logo
Prospecton infrastructure upgraded for resilience

Prospecton infrastructure upgraded for resilience

The Citizen4 days ago
THREE years on from the devastating April 2022 floods, eThekwini Municipality has transformed the crisis into an opportunity, launching a city-wide reconstruction programme with a focus on Prospecton Road, the Umlazi canal network, and the vital M4 transport route.
Also read: Floods hit Prospecton industries hard
These vital routes, severely battered during the floods, are now at the heart of an ambitious 'build back better' strategy to create infrastructure capable of withstanding the realities of climate change.
Speaking on the progress, Vincent Ngubane, Director of the Disaster Management Directorate, highlighted the shift from emergency recovery to proactive resilience-building.
'Our mission goes beyond emergency response. It's about building a city that is prepared, protected, and proactive. Prospecton Road and the Umlazi Canal are no longer just being restored, they are being transformed into resilient defences protecting our communities and industries,' said Ngubane.
He added that Prospecton Road and Umlazi Canal, once overwhelmed, are now being fortified to protect homes, industries, and livelihoods. The M4 highway, a crucial link between Durban and the southern basin, which experienced landslides and washaways, is now being rebuilt to withstand extreme weather events. The newly designed sections feature reinforced embankments, upgraded stormwater drainage, and flood mitigation barriers.
Also read: City officials survey storm damage in Umgababa
Chief civil engineer in Roads Provision, Linga Govender, emphasised the municipality's adoption of advanced engineering techniques.
'These are not simple repairs. Prospection Road and the M4 are being rebuilt with future disasters in mind. The Umlazi Canal is being widened and reinforced to prevent the kind of catastrophic overflows we witnessed before,' said Govender.
The municipality has also placed community involvement at the centre of its recovery strategy, rolling out public education campaigns on disaster preparedness and integrating local knowledge into infrastructure planning. As part of its holistic disaster risk reduction approach, eThekwini is combining infrastructure upgrades with early warning systems, climate-smart urban planning, and community training programmes.
Residents are encouraged to stay informed and take part in community preparedness initiatives as eThekwini accelerates its journey towards becoming a climate-resilient metro.
For more South Coast Sun news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. You can also check out our videos on our YouTube channel or follow us on TikTok.
Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter and get news delivered straight to your inbox.
Do you have more information pertaining to this story? Feel free to let us know by commenting on our Facebook page or you can contact our newsroom on 031 903 2341 and speak to a journalist.
At Caxton, we employ humans to generate daily fresh news, not AI intervention. Happy reading!
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Discover how AI-Powered analytics are revolutionising retail Forex Trading in 2025
Discover how AI-Powered analytics are revolutionising retail Forex Trading in 2025

Mail & Guardian

time15 hours ago

  • Mail & Guardian

Discover how AI-Powered analytics are revolutionising retail Forex Trading in 2025

The foreign-exchange market has always rewarded traders who can process information faster than the competition. In 2025, that advantage increasingly belongs to those who deploy artificial-intelligence-driven analytics. South African retail traders, once limited to basic charting packages and delayed economic calendars, now enjoy real-time pattern detection, sentiment scoring, and predictive order-flow models piped straight into their trading dashboards. What was once the preserve of hedge-fund quants is being delivered through cloud-first platforms that cost less per month than a Saturday braai with friends. Platforms such as The traditional technical-analysis toolkit still matters, but AI augments it in ways that speak directly to the needs of a retail audience. Deep-learning models trained on decades of market microstructure spot hidden liquidity pockets long before conventional indicators flash. Natural-language-processing engines scan every Monetary Policy Committee briefing out of Pretoria and every Treasury press release, tagging each sentence with a probability that it will move USD ZAR by more than 0.5 %. These probabilities appear as colour-coded prompts beside a trader's chart, trimming hours from the research cycle and reducing the urge to trade on gut feeling alone. South Africa boasts the largest, most liquid Predictive order-book heatmaps draw on Level-II data from Johannesburg-hosted servers, showing where institutional bots are clustering liquidity. Sentiment fusion models combine Twitter, YouTube, and local news feeds to score public mood about the rand, gold prices, and the broader BRICS narrative. Reinforcement-learning trade managers adjust stop-loss and take-profit levels dynamically, factoring in S&P 500 futures, Bitcoin momentum, and commodity index volatility. Voice-activated assistants let traders ask, 'What is the probability of a USD ZAR rally if Brent crude jumps three per cent?' and receive an instant, data-backed answer. These tools lower the knowledge barrier for beginners while giving veterans sharper edges for prop-firm assessments. AI is not merely about finding entries; it transforms risk control, too. Value-at-risk models that once refreshed daily now recalculate every minute, pulling live volatility surfaces from interbank venues. When sudden rand weakness lifts the three-month implied volatility curve, the smart system can automatically cut leverage on open positions or recommend a counter-correlated hedge in AUD USD. For South Africans trading from their phones between meetings, this auto-adjustment is a lifeline, preventing small mistakes from compounding into blown accounts. Moreover, AI exposes hidden correlations that local traders may overlook. In 2024, an unscheduled power-station outage in Mpumalanga coincided with a spike in inland coal prices, which in turn pressured mining-linked equities and dragged the rand lower. An AI engine that maps energy supply data to currency performance could have pre-emptively reduced exposure hours before the sell-off became obvious on charts. Looking toward the second half of 2025, three trends are set to intensify. First, edge computing under the POPIA framework will keep more personal data within South Africa's borders while still feeding anonymised trade statistics to global AI clouds, balancing privacy and performance. Second, generative AI agents will start running full back-tests and generating narrative reports that explain their logic in plain English, helping traders satisfy both compliance and client-reporting requirements without manual spreadsheets. Third, broker-agnostic neural APIs will allow savvy coders to plug AI signals directly into MT5 or cTrader, opening the door to semi-autonomous portfolios that self-rebalance based on volatility clustering instead of fixed time intervals. For retail traders, the message is clear: mastering the basics of forex remains essential, but harnessing AI analytics is quickly becoming the decisive differentiator. Those who embrace the new tools stand to capture moves earlier, size positions more intelligently, and protect capital during South Africa's trademark bouts of volatility. Traders who ignore the shift risk being outpaced by algorithms that never sleep. In a market where milliseconds matter and global flows can spin the rand from calm to chaos before dawn breaks over Table Mountain, AI-powered analytics offer a competitive edge that is both accessible and increasingly indispensable. Whether you are a newcomer placing your first micro-lot or an experienced day-trader aiming for consistent withdrawals in 2025, integrating intelligent datafeeds into your strategy could be the upgrade that turns potential into real, measurable performance.

Abu Dhabi holds the crown as the world's safest city
Abu Dhabi holds the crown as the world's safest city

IOL News

time2 days ago

  • IOL News

Abu Dhabi holds the crown as the world's safest city

Abu Dhabi has been crowned safest city in the world for ninth consecutive year. Image: Instagram. Abu Dhabi has emerged as a beacon of security, claiming the title of the safest city in the world for the ninth consecutive year. According to the newly released 2025 Crime Index from Numbeo, a crowd-sourced online database assessing crime perceptions globally, Abu Dhabi boasts an impressive Safety Index score of 88.8. This marks an increase from the beginning of 2025, when it recorded 88.4, further solidifying its position at the top of this significant index. Abu Dhabi's consistent performance underscores its effective policing strategies and the broader commitment of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to public safety, security and an enhanced quality of life for its residents. In a ranking that evaluates a total of 279 cities worldwide, Abu Dhabi stood out distinctively, while Doha, Dubai, Sharjah and Taipei in Taiwan rounded out the Top 5 list. Manama, Bahrain; Muscat, Oman; The Hague, Netherlands; Trondheim, Norway and Eindhoven, Netherlands, where placed 6th to 10th, consecutively. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ Ad loading The Abu Dhabi media office confirmed this achievement through official channels, highlighting a strategic commitment to community well-being and proactive governance that emphasises safety as a foundation for a thriving society. Abu Dhabi's journey to becoming the safest city in the world originates from a singular, yet profound goal: to ensure the safety of all its residents and visitors. Safety transcends low crime statistics; it encompasses fostering an environment where individuals feel secure at all times, everywhere within the city. A pivotal aspect of this success is the police force's approach, characterised by well-trained, well-equipped officers who are integral to the community. The focus is less on responding after incidents occur and more on preventing them. With investments in advanced technologies such as security cameras and intelligent software, law enforcement is highly responsive and effective. Although each city's context is unique, the fundamental principles underpinning Abu Dhabi's success in safety can serve as valuable lessons for urban areas globally. By adopting core strategies such as employing advanced security tools, fostering proactive policing, building trust between citizens and law enforcement, ensuring adherence to laws and prioritising the happiness of residents, cities worldwide can work towards creating safer communities.

Landmark agreement with Meta to combat child exploitation in South Africa
Landmark agreement with Meta to combat child exploitation in South Africa

IOL News

time3 days ago

  • IOL News

Landmark agreement with Meta to combat child exploitation in South Africa

Emma Sadleir and the legal team outside the Johannesburg High Court after protecting the rights of children who are being exploited on social media. Image: Facebook In a groundbreaking legal victory, the Digital Law Co (DLC) has secured an order in which Meta agreed to cooperate in the fight against child porn on its sites. Over the past two weeks, Emma Sadleir and her team fought a fierce legal battle against Meta, the parent company of Instagram and WhatsApp, in a bid to have disturbing posts of children removed from public sites. In the latest turn of events, DLC has secured a consent order, issued in the Gauteng High Court, Johannesburg, in which Meta has agreed to work closely with DLC. This case arose in response to the widespread circulation of sexually exploitative material involving South African schoolchildren on Meta-owned platforms. Meta had agreed to permanently remove, as far as is technically feasible, all Instagram accounts and WhatsApp Channels reported by DLC to them on behalf of victims, thereby cutting off public access to this deeply harmful material. The digital giant also agreed to disclose subscriber information for over 60 offending accounts across both platforms, enabling victims and their families to pursue justice through appropriate legal avenues. It will further establish a direct two-year hotline between The Digital Law Co and Meta to fast-track urgent child protection matters and ensure that future reports do not fall through the cracks. Sadleir responded that this is a powerful affirmation of what can be achieved when the law is used not only as a shield, but as a sword in defence of the most vulnerable. 'We believe this is the first time in South African legal history that a global tech giant has agreed, in writing and court, to these kinds of terms. We hope it signals a turning point in how platforms respond to harm within our jurisdiction,' Sadleir said. 'The work is not done. Technology evolves. Harms migrate. But we have taken a stand - and we believe South Africa is safer for it,' Sadleir said. Rorke Wilson of DLC, meanwhile, said part of the earlier court order has been complied with, as Meta has sent some details of the offending accounts, and more are expected to be sent on Wednesday. The hotline has also been very responsive, as some accounts have been taken down quickly. Rorke said from what they have seen, the person or persons who are behind these offending posts seem to have the wind taken out of their sails as these accounts are now cut before they're able to grow too big. Cape Times

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store