Tag: load shedding

In our mission of digital empowerment for all our people in South Africa, we face a constant battle against vandalism of network sites around the country. The scale of the problem is enormous, and the cost of repairing and protecting our sites affects our ability to roll out connectivity in areas that need it most.

COVID-19 highlighted the necessity of having a viable telemedicine regime as a ‘safety net’ to ensure continued access to healthcare services whilst maximising social distancing. We now have an opportunity to better understand the challenges and exploit the benefits of telemedicine services.

Be careful of introducing bias into your investment decisions. You may have cancelled DSTV in favour of Netflix, but that doesn't mean everyone has done so. It reminds me of the Great Facebook Boycott of 2020, which was barely a pimple in Facebook's overall performance. It's really important to take emotions out of your investment decisions.

One year after COVID-19 was declared a pandemic, CEOs are voicing record levels of optimism in the global economic recovery, with 76% of global business leaders predicting that economic growth will improve in 2021. Coming off of a global recession (3.5% decline in world GDP) and a GDP contraction of 7% in SA, a record share of CEOs are optimistic about global economic growth this year.

The rapid changes experienced over the past few months and leading to the current relaxation of lockdown levels, has resulted in the South African economy’s recovery taking the shape of a ‘swoosh’ of a fast decline then a quick recovery that will take time to be fully realised.

As Eskom carries out critical maintenance on its failing units, South African landlords and facilities managers have to implement measures of their own to ensure energy security for their properties. There certainly appears to be no foreseeable end to the current load shedding, and facilities managers now have to factor in rolling blackouts as part of the daily management equation.

According to the latest Employment Outlook Survey, South African employers report limited hiring intentions for the second quarter of 2020. While 8% of employers forecast an increase in payrolls, 5% anticipate a decrease and 85% expect to make no changes. Once the data is adjusted to allow for seasonal variation, the overall outlook for South Africa stands at +2%, unchanged from the previous quarter.

There is a distinct lack of good news at the moment, and certainty is in short supply. The coronavirus is spreading rapidly in Europe, the Middle East and North America, and we have to assume it will continue spreading at a rapid rate.

We have unveiled the State of Entrepreneurship in South Africa after surveying more than 1,000 entrepreneurs across the country. 2019 marks our fifth year of engagement with local entrepreneurs, with the latest findings showing that entrepreneurs are optimistic and resourceful even as the sector is enduring one of the most difficult economic periods.

On Tuesday 29 October 2019, the South African Minister of Public Enterprises, Pravin Gordhan, released, and held a media briefing on, a special paper entitled 'Roadmap for Eskom in a Reformed Electricity Supply Industry, 2019' (the Roadmap). The Roadmap highlights the issues that Eskom is currently facing and then sets out the government's plan to address them.