October 01, 2024.

For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, this is Polity’s Daily Podcast.

Making headlines:

Ramakgopa confident he can head off Eskom’s tariff hike with policy adjustments

Sanral probing historic e-toll debt options

And, Rwanda confirms 27 cases of Marburg virus disease

Ramakgopa confident he can head off Eskom’s tariff hike with policy adjustments

Electricity and Energy Minister Dr Kgosientsho Ramakgopa is confident that State-owned utility Eskom’s proposed tariff increase for direct customers of 36.15%, and a 43.55% hike in municipal tariffs, will not come to pass.

The National Energy Regulator of South Africa formally published Eskom’s highly controversial price allowable revenue application for the coming three years. Nersa will, in the coming months, hold public hearings on the proposed increases before making a final determination.

Speaking at the fourth yearly Climate Summit, in Johannesburg, today, Ramokgopa said there was a policy intervention that he believed the Department of Electricity and Energy could make to provide some degree of relief before the price increases were implemented on April 1 next year for direct Eskom customers and July 1 for municipalities.

Sanral probing historic e-toll debt options

While the South African National Roads Agency Limited welcomed the first instalment by the Gauteng provincial government of its contribution to the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project e-toll debt, it is mulling its options over historic e-toll debt and payments already made by road users.

The controversial e-tolls systems was introduced in 2013 following the implementation of the first phase of the GFIP.

In 2022, amid high levels of nonpayment and civil disobedience towards the system, the GPG accepted its 30% debt contribution to settle Sanral’s debt and interest obligations, with national government covering the 70% balance for the scrapped GFIP tolling initiative. By April 2024, the gantries were switched off.

The first R3.8-billion instalment toward Gauteng’s agreed R12.9-billion contribution to historical e-toll debt was paid yesterday, with subsequent equal payments to be made every June over five years.

In total, about R20-billion is required to be paid by the province towards the e-tolls: R12-billion is debt, R4-billion is interest and R4-billion is maintenance.

Rwanda confirms 27 cases of Marburg virus disease

Rwanda has reported nine deaths from its first-ever Marburg virus outbreak and confirmed 18 patients are in isolation, according to its health ministry.

Most of the fatalities have been healthcare workers from an intensive care unit in the capital, Kigali. To curb its spread, Rwandan authorities have restricted funeral sizes no more than 50 people.

The World Health Organization said on Saturday it would deliver a consignment of clinical care and infection-prevention and control supplies to support Rwanda’s already robust public health emergency response system.

The virus that causes severe haemorrhagic fever kills about 88% of those infected. Symptoms includes lethargy, fever, severe headaches, vomiting and diarrhoea. Many patients develop severe bleeding at the end of the first week of symptoms.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today

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