Latest news with #R3.2-billion
Daily Maverick
24-06-2025
- Business
- Daily Maverick
Electricity tariffs force a choice between food or power, says Electricity Minister Ramokgopa
The minister brokered an agreement between City Power and Eskom, which had almost ended up in court. With electricity tariffs up by an average of 12.74% between April and July (when municipal tariff increases kick in), Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa said energy poverty was biting South Africans. Ramokgopa said that the rapidly rising cost of electricity was forcing households to choose between food and energy (see this report from Daily Maverick in 2024). Because people can't afford their bills, debt owed by municipalities to Eskom is growing at R3-billion a month and has now overshot a total of R100-billion. This, in turn, threatens Eskom's viability. Ramokgopa was speaking, along with Johannesburg Mayor Dada Morero, to announce a deal over a festering dispute between the city distributor, City Power, and Eskom, which almost ended up in court in December. The utility threatened to cut off four substations where most of the R4.9-billion billing debt had racked up; City Power, in turn, said that R3.4-billion had been incorrectly billed and breathed fire at Eskom. On Tuesday, 24 June, Ramokgopa brokered an agreement for R3.2-billion to be paid over four years, with an additional tariff relief of R830-million. An upcoming data investigation by the Daily Maverick has found that there are more than 30,000 power cuts in the city each quarter as City Power struggles with declining revenues (because people can't afford their electricity bills) and a R44-billion bill to upgrade aged infrastructure. Ramokgopa said state departments should not be taking each other to court and that the SA National Development Institute (Sanedi) had mined the data and evidence to help the parties find an agreement that worked for them. Its report took three months rather than three weeks to complete because the work was more complex than initially thought. It offered a template for other billing disputes between Eskom and municipalities. Council proceedings show that City Power increased revenue by 17.4% in the year to June, but expenses shot up by 23%, resulting in a net loss of R602-million. It has a bank overdraft of R15.34-billion in the year to June. Ramokgopa said that while big cities such as Johannesburg could work around the national cost of the power crisis, smaller municipalities were falling off the cliff. Municipalities levy charges on the sale of electricity and make most of their revenue from these. DM
The Citizen
30-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Citizen
Afrikaans TV content dwindles amid SABC cash crunch
Cultural organisations warn of language decline as SABC axes Afrikaans shows and fails to pay for productions due to deepening financial troubles. One of SABC's Afrikaans shows, Voetspore, could soon face the axe. Picture: Supplied. State broadcaster SABC doesn't seem to have a vendetta against the Afrikaans language – but is so broke it cannot pay for the productions. One of the Afrikaans shows, Voetspore, could soon face the axe. Earlier this month, Afrikaners saw red when the SABC failed to broadcast the Afrikaans news on the first weekend of the month due to technical issues. SABC doesn't have vendetta against Afrikaans language MyBroadband reported that Voetspore's 14th season would likely be the last viewed on SABC2, after an extensive battle over the SABC's decision to stop payments in December last year. AfriForum's head of cultural affairs Alana Bailey said the organisation was sorry to hear that Afrikaans was being scaled down even further on the SABC. ALSO READ: SABC says Afrikaans remains important part of broadcasting mandate after 'technical issues' 'AfriForum is still waiting for feedback on its [Promotion of Access to Information Act] application to the SABC to obtain more information about the Afrikaans news bulletins and their future on the SABC,' she said. Bailey said the abolition of Voetspore on SABC2 also pointed to the necessity of independent Afrikaans channels and options such as AfriForum TV because they kept the language alive. Federasie van Afrikaanse Kultuurvereniginge (FAK) operating officer Ziegfried van Huyssteen said 'the protection and development of our language and culture is of paramount importance'. A dying language? 'That is why it is always sad when one hears rumours about Afrikaans as a dying language, whether it is on TV, radio, in the news, or even in schools. 'These types of stories offer an incredible opportunity for every Afrikaans speaker to take ownership of their language again – become storytellers of the future because nurturing and living your language is the only way one will be able to keep it alive,' he said. ALSO READ: What's behind SABC news glitch? Ziegfried said Afrikaans was by no means a dead language and encouraged everyone to work with FAK to build a future for the language. MyBroadband also reported that the auditor-general (AG), in a presentation before the standing committee on public accounts last week, said the SABC had shown no real financial improvement despite the R3.2-billion bailout it got in 2019. AG deputy business unit leader Nathan Lawnet said the public broadcaster missed 48% of its targets in the 2023-24 financial year. SABC missed 48% of its targets Lawnet said the declining viewership related to the number of top 20 shows offered by the SABC. 'The more top-rated programmes that you are showcasing mean that you are attracting viewers to come watch your shows. Higher viewership directly correlates to advertising,' he said. ALSO READ: How the Suidlanders plan to outrun the apocalypse Political analyst Piet Croucamp said it could be as simple as the SABC was bankrupt and didn't have money. 'It's costly for it to fulfil its mandate and legal responsibilities. It has a specific statutory responsibility which includes languages, regions, education and sport,' he said. Croucamp said it was hard to tell whether there was some sort of political vendetta or vindictiveness behind the decision to remove Afrikaans from the SABC2. Hard to see political vendetta 'It could well be, like they say if you want to see the pigeons scatter, take their food away,' he said. Croucamp said the statutory regime according to which they must have a diversity of programmes and different languages, was there for a good reason. NOW READ: 'Every SA language should be protected' – Marc Lottering on Afrikaans' 100th anniversary
