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Eskom has launched the Renewable Energy Tariff pilot programme, which aims to supply cleanly sourced electricity to the utility’s business customers.

The electricity will be supplied through Eskom’s Sere Wind Farm.

The programme targets businesses that have corporate renewable energy targets and would like to use renewable power in their facilities or production processes without having to purchase renewable energy assets such as wind turbines or solar panels.

In a statement, Eskom said the programme will enable businesses to use its renewable energy sources to supply up to 100% of their electricity.

“The… programme gives customers a mechanism to achieve their renewable energy commitments to purchase this energy from Eskom, without the initial capital investment of having to own a renewable energy generator or to enter into long-term Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs).

“This offer allows customers to have a 24-hour blended renewable supply to their facility, and allows them flexibility to relocate premises without needing to move renewable energy assets,” the statement said.

The power utility said depending on usage, customers will be offered declining electricity on a yearly basis.

“The tariff is designed as a declining block tariff. This means that the more green energy a customer purchases as a percentage of total consumption, the lower the rate.”

More details on the tariff pilot are available from the Eskom website.

Customers who take up the programme will be required to sign a contract with Eskom based on how much electricity the business consumes.

“Eskom customers… select an affordable contract, which is charged monthly, based on the percentage of renewable energy they consume and this percentage will be charged monthly as specified in the contract.

“At the end of 12 consecutive months, Eskom will evaluate the amount of renewable energy in kWh consumed against the contracted percentage, and if the actual capacity is less than the contracted capacity, Eskom will adjust the Renewable Energy Tariff based on the actual percentage.  The renewable energy charge payable by the customer will be adjusted accordingly,” Eskom said in a statement.

Eskom Group Executive for Distribution, Monde Bala, said the programme provides businesses an opportunity to gain savings in electricity usage.

“The Renewable Energy Tariff is designed to provide a cost-effective and flexible option for Eskom customers to consume renewable power. It further provides flexible, convenient and short-term power purchases for when you move your facilities.  It will be available to Eskom supplied customers whose electricity accounts are up to date,” Bala said.

The programme is initially limited to direct Eskom customers and with clean energy usage capped at 300 GWh per annum per customer.

The pilot programme will run until 31 March 2023.

As the South African Revenue Service (SARS) intensifies its efforts to clampdown on tax fraud and non-compliance, police have pounced on two suspects for swindling the revenue collector.

In the first case, Anwar Gaffor on Monday appeared before the Palm Ridge Specialised Commercial Crime Court following his arrest for tax returns fraud.

Hawks spokesperson Captain Lloyd Ramovha said: “It is alleged that Gaffor submitted various fraudulent tax returns to the South African Revenue Service, which resulted in the receiver of revenue potentially losing R1 million in 2020.

“The timeous intervention by the internal auditors ensured that the actual loss amounted to R300 000.”

Gaffor was granted R1 000 bail and the case was postponed to 13 October, pending further investigation.

In the second matter, Adelle Fritz, a former senior accountant, also appeared in the same court facing charges of fraud and theft allegedly committed in 2015.

Ramovha said Fritz stands accused of fraudulently approving credit facilities for a company called Siyakhula Electrical for an amount of R500 000.

“Following an intensive investigation, Fritz was arrested on a warrant of arrest. The case has been postponed to 29 September for additional implicated suspects to be accounted for,” he said.

Former National Health Laboratory Services (NHLS) Chief Executive Officer, Joyce Mogale, has appeared before the Palm Ridge Specialised Commercial Crime Court to respond for her role in an alleged corrupt tender involving over R113 million in 2016.

In a statement on Monday, the Hawks said it was alleged that Mogale, 66, signed a contract with Blue Future Internet and Surveillance (PTY) ltd for the provision, maintenance and support of end-user computer hardware for a period of three years.

“The adjusted contract stipulated that the amount involved was not to exceed R83 million whereas the letter of acceptance of the offer made it clear that the value of the contract was only above R25 million,” Hawks spokesperson, Captain Lloyd Ramovha said in the statement.

He said the NHLS consequently paid the supplier R113 million, which exceeded the value of the contract by just over R87 million.

“The former CEO has been charged for fraud and contravention of Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) following her misrepresentations to the Board of Directors at the NHLS,” said Ramovha.

Mogale handed herself over to the Hawks’ Serious Commercial Crime Investigation team in Germiston on Monday morning shortly before her court appearance where she was granted R20 000 bail.

The case has been postponed to 17 September 2021 for a trial where she will be joined by her fellow accomplices who are also out on bail.

Meanwhile, in an unrelated case, a 38-year-old, Nomasonto Rikhotso who was employed as a manager at Power Life Global SA, was arrested for allegations of fraudulently transferring over R1.9 million into her own business Marindle Trading Enterprise’s account between April and May 2020.

Rikhotso has been released on R5 000 bail in the same Palm Ridge Court. The case has been postponed to 13 October 2021.

The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment has welcomed the hefty sentences handed down to three rhino poachers in the Skukuza Regional Court as it sends a strong message that the illegal killing of this iconic species will not be tolerated.

In a statement on Monday, the department said the convictions come ahead of World Rhino Day, which is celebrated annually on 22 September. World Rhino Day is a day of awareness for all five rhino species and the work being done to save them.

“Walter Hendrick Mangange, 59, Shangani Mathebula, 26, and Emmanuel Mdluli, 33, were convicted on 2 September on charges related to rhino poaching, including entering the Kruger National Park with intent to commit a crime, including the possession of an illegal firearm and ammunition, possession of a dangerous weapons and three counts of hunting rhinoceros,” the department said.

Rangers using tracker dogs had spotted the men shooting two rhino when they were investigating gunshots heard in the park.

The poachers were arrested with the support of the South African National Parks (SANParks) helicopter team.

They were found in possession of a rifle of which the serial number had been filed off, ammunition and rhino horns stashed in a backpack.

“Mangane was sentenced to a total of 45 years imprisonment and Mdluli to 30 years in jail for trespassing, numerous charges related to the illegal possession of an unlicensed firearm and ammunition, possession of a dangerous weapon and three counts of rhino poaching,” the department said.

Mathebula, a Mozambican national, who was in South Africa illegally, received a 30-year sentence for contravening the immigration act, trespassing, charges related to the possession of an unlicensed firearm and ammunition, possession of a dangerous weapon and three counts of hunting rhino.

“This sentence is a welcome example of the successes being achieved through the collaborative approach taken by government to combat rhino poaching. In this instance, the success is attributed to the teamwork by the rangers, police and prosecutors to secure this conviction,” the department said.

The Northern Cape Department of Education has raised concern about the amount of learning losses as new COVID-19 cases continue to increase in the province’s schools.

At least 1 272 cases of the virus have been reported since 23 August to date with several schools closed and learning delayed.

In a statement, the department said the rising infections are compromising the learners’ ability to perform at a high level.

“This continues to take a devastating toll on the academic performance of learners and their preparedness for the examinations. It’s clear that the academic recovery will take much longer than expected, whilst the current reality is placing a massive strain on the entire education sector.

“The department is doing all that we can to support educators and learners across all grades during these difficult times,” the statement said.

The department said 410 new cases have been reported today.

“The new COVID-19 infections include 28 educators, 367 learners and 15 support staff at various schools. We currently have seven schools which are closed in the province to allow for contact tracing and the disinfection of school premises,” the statement said.

South Africa has recorded 5 931 new COVID-19 cases bringing the total number of laboratory-confirmed cases to 2 819 945.

In a statement on Sunday, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) said this increase represents a 14.5% positivity rate.

“As per the National Department of Health, a further 76 COVID-19 related deaths have been reported, bringing total fatalities to 83,419 to date,” the NICD said.

The majority of new cases are from KwaZulu-Natal (29%), followed by Western Cape (23%).

Eastern Cape accounted for 15%; Free State and Gauteng Province each accounted for 9% respectively; Northern Cape each accounted for 6%; Mpumalanga and North West each accounted for 4% respectively; and Limpopo Province accounted for 1% of the new cases.

“The total number of cases today (5 931) is lower than yesterday (8 411) and lower than the average number of new cases per day over the 7 preceding days (7 860). The 7-day moving average daily number of cases has decreased,” the NICD said.

There has been an increase of 111 hospital admissions in the past 24 hours.

A total of 16 749 709 tests have been conducted in both public and private sectors

Meanwhile, the country has to date administered 13 454 823 vaccines with 18 483 of those being in the last 24 hours.

In the last 24 hours, 14 393 Pfizer and 4 090 vaccines were administered.

KwaZulu-Natal Premier Sihle Zikalala has called for a thorough investigation into the horrific crash that claimed 12 lives on the R612 between Highflats and Ixopo.

The accident involving three trucks, a bakkie and a mini-bus taxi, happened last Thursday when a minibus taxi collided with a tipper-truck. The majority of the victims were women, who were all travelling in the minibus.

Zikalala – accompanied by Transport, Community Safety and Liaison MEC, Neliswa Peggy Nkonyeni; District Mayor Zamo Gwala and chairperson of the KZN House of Traditional Leaders Inkosi Chiliza – visited the scene of the accident on Friday, to conduct a physical inspection of the road where the accident occurred and met with the bereaved families.

The Premier said a crack team from Gauteng is already on the ground, combing the scene and examining the infrastructure, including the vehicles and the drivers’ behaviour on the day.

“Our preliminary information is that this was due mainly to human error. The majority of accidents on our roads are avoidable. In the majority of cases, it is human error and a failure to adhere to the rules of the road which is responsible for the high carnage on our roads.

“On behalf of the provincial government, we wish to pay our sincerest condolences to the families of the 12 victims of this accident. We also wish the survivors, who are in hospital, a speedy recovery,” Zikalala said.

The provincial government’s policy dictates that where more than four people died in an accident, government must assist with the burial and related costs.

Zikalala, meanwhile, announced that the provincial government will revive the Siyabakhumbula Road Safety Awareness campaign (We Remember Them) and at the same time, tighten the province’s enforcement operations.

“We must return to the slogan ‘KwaZulu-Natal, Alufakwa lubuya nesaphulamthetho’, which ensures zero tolerance on all our roads,” Zikalala said.

In an effort to address challenges some beneficiaries have experienced in trying to access their Social Relief of Distress R350 grant from the Post Office, the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) has reopened a system for applicants to change their payment method.

Applicants of the Special COVID-19 Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant can now change their method of payment for their money to be paid into a bank account. The agency has confirmed the bank account method as the most convenient and quickest way to receive the grant and avoid queues at the Post Office.

The window to change payment method opened on Friday, 3 September and will run until 10 September 2021, while other social grants are being paid.

SASSA said that the Post Office does not pay the SRD grant during the normal social grant payments of the Old Age, Disability and children’s grants.

When the systems opened for the SRD grant early in August 2021, applications came rolling in by the millions, reaching 11 237 724 nationally, three weeks later. Despite the high number of applications, SASSA has been able to expedite payment of verified clients, while continuing to verify the remaining applications.

SASSA reminded care givers who also receive child grants and have been approved for the R350 relief grant, that they are paid through their SASSA payment card.

“These clients, who have received the R350 grant in their SASSA card, are advised not to collect at the Post Office but to access the money at merchants or bank ATMs. These clients are reminded that they can also use the card to pay for purchases and not necessarily only to withdraw cash,” the agency said.

SASSA added that clients whose grants are approved and paid through the Post Office, must await an SMS notification that the grant is available, to confirm where and when they can collect their SRD grant.

South African Airways (SAA) interim CEO Thomas Kgokolo says the airline is moving into a new era.

Kgokolo was updating Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Public Enterprises on the expected restart of the airline and on other matters concerning the airline’s subsidiaries.

SAA is expected to resume operations on the Johannesburg-Cape Town route and African destinations, Accra, Kinshasa, Harare, Lusaka and Maputo on September 23.

“When we decided on our restart, we did not thumb suck this and we are not flying for the sake of flying. It is not an ego restart. It is something that we’ve thought about carefully within the constraints that we have and within what we see happening in the market.

“[Bringing the old SAA back] is not the intention. The intention is to bring a refreshed SAA, a new SAA. We are focused on customer excellence, we are focused on some of the low hanging fruit…that we can utilise to get back to the market. While, in the background, we are looking at the bigger redesign of SAA,” Kgokolo said.

SAA has been grounded since March 27, 2020 and came out of business rescue at the end of April this year.

The airline’s interim chief executive said they have embarked on careful fleet planning which bears in mind the uncertainty of the market brought on by the impact of COVID-19.

“In the short term we have brought the aircraft that will be operated on power by the hour…it means that as long as we are not flying, we are not paying for them. This is good in a period of uncertainty when we don’t know whether lockdowns will persist or not. It allows us to contain costs. In the long term, we want to get into a sustained fleet planning…so we’ll be looking at aircraft reconfiguration going forward,” he said.

Kgokolo told the committee that the chosen routes to restart SAA were thoroughly researched to determine viability.

“When we looked at our data…we found that the load factors in the regional routes is good and also the yields, meaning that the prices we get out of those particular routes [are] promising as well. Of course this is not 100% risk free but it gives us an opportunity to test that particular market and also to protect our routes as well. In the medium to long term, we are going to redesign this particular route network,” he said.

According to the interim CEO, cost containment is high on the list of priorities for the airline.

“We are monitoring that quite closely where we are renegotiating some of the agreements especially in the I.T space [and] with some of our suppliers as well because we need to continuously keep that cost base low in order to sustain what will be happening in the market,” he said.

He announced that they have considered SAA customers who had tickets before the airline was grounded and were not able to use them.

“When we were grounded, there were customers that still had tickets to fly with us and we believe that this is a good opportunity to partner with those customers as we start flying so that they can start redeeming their vouchers and start flying with us again so that we can then render that service to them again,” he said.

Kgokolo added that the airline is determined to rebuild customer trust with “a lot of work” still to be done in order to regain it.

The Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) has urged the public to be cautious and vigilant when dealing with Binance Group, saying the company is not authorised to give any financial advice or render any intermediary services.

The FSCA said the company is not compliant in terms of the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act, 2002 (FAIS Act) in South Africa.

In a statement, the FSCA said it received information that Binance, an international company situated in the Seychelles, has a telegram group that members of the South African public can join to gain access to their cryptocurrency exchange platform.

“The FSCA would like to caution that in addition to this entity not being authorised to provide any financial services or business, crypto-related investments are currently not regulated by the FSCA or any other body in South Africa.

“As a result, if something goes wrong, you’re unlikely to get your money back and will have no recourse against anyone,” said the authority.

The FSCA said members of the public should always check that an entity or individual is registered with the FSCA to provide financial advisory and intermediary services, and what category of advice it is that the entity is registered to provide.

“There are instances where persons are registered to provide basic advisory services for a low-risk product and then offer services of a far more complex and risky nature.”

The FSCA urged consumers who wish to conduct financial services with an institution or person to check beforehand with the FSCA on either the toll free number (0800 110 443) or on the website www.fsca.co.za as to whether or not such institution or person is authorised to render financial services, and in particular, which financial products they are licensed for.