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For the first time, South Africa has a long-term Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) strategy to take it to FMD-free status, eventually without vaccination.

Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen on January 14 announced the Department of Agriculture's (DoA's) ten-year phased plan starting with stabilisation, progressing to consolidation and eventually removal of vaccination.

The plan starts with immediate mass vaccination in hotspot provinces, targeting the vaccination of 90% of South Africa's commercial cattle, 80% of communal cattle and 100% of feedlots and dairy cattle within 12 months.

Vaccines from Argentina, Botswana and Türkiye will be used, which will be supplemented by State-owned veterinary vaccine producer Onderstepoort Biological Products' local production of 20 000 doses a week from March.

The local facility is expected to increase its vaccine production toward a 960 000-dose capacity target.

Steenhuisen expects the country to receive five-million vaccine doses through imports by March.

The department has submitted applications to the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority to authorise the importation and registration of the Biogenesis vaccine.

Steenhuisen confirms that more than two-million cattle have been vaccinated since the current FMD outbreak started in 2022. It is estimated that the livestock industry has suffered R5.6-billion in export losses as a result of FMD since the start of 2025.

He adds that the department will soon submit, to Cabinet, a memorandum to declare FMD as a National State of Disaster, which will enable government to rapidly deploy national resources for supplies, equipment, vehicles and facilities to support the fight against FMD and enact directives and regulations in a more timeous manner, as well as enhance government's powers to regulate the movement of livestock.

The department has been strengthening the national laboratory network through the Agricultural Research Council (ARC) to increase diagnostic capacity and ensure timely test results across State laboratories.

The department has also started implementing a digital livestock identification and traceability system in partnership with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research and Red Meat Industry Services to track animal movements and support surveillance.

Steenhuisen stresses that vaccination is not a silver bullet and must be accompanied by good on-farm biosecurity and movement controls.

Becoming FMD-free will ultimately require coordinated and targeted efforts by the State, farmers, veterinarians and other organisations to report clinical signs of FMD and adhere to biosecurity measures.

DoA biosecurity coordination chief director Dr Emily Mogajane says the FMD plan targets the epicentre of FMD outbreaks in Phase 1, including KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng and North West, with Phase 2 aimed at establishing buffer zones around areas such as the Northern, Western and Eastern Cape provinces to prevent infection.

"The goal is to interrupt virus transmission and reduce disease incidences to low levels in two to three years."She affirms that laboratory diagnostic capacity is being reinforced by coordination of provincial veterinary laboratories to speed up reference testing, while the ARC and vaccine manufacturers are being supported to conduct vaccine-matching and target product profile assessments to ensure imported vaccines match circulating serotypes.

The DoA is working to build a robust database and surveillance system for FMD; however, Mogajane emphasises the importance of farmers, auctioneers, speculators and other partners adhering to movement controls and other disease spread measures.

The DoA proposes in its mass vaccination plan for FMD that 19.5-million cattle need to be vaccinated across 234 municipalities, of which 8.2-million are classified as a primary priority, 10-million are classified as a secondary priority and 1.2-million are classified as a tertiary priority.

Ultimately, Phase 1 (years one and two) of ...

The South African Photovoltaic Industry Association (SAPVIA) has added its voice to those expressing concern about the potential negative consequences arising from the revised unbundling plan for Eskom, which was announced in December.

Under the revised structure the National Transmission Company South Africa (NTCSA) will remain a subsidiary of Eskom Holdings and will continue to own the transmission assets, while a separate Transmission System Operator (TSO) will be set up outside Eskom to handle system and market operation, but without owning the underlying infrastructure.

The Electricity Regulation Amendment Act, which came into force in 2025, set a five-year timeframe for the creation of an independent TSO, and SAPVIA was among those anticipating that the new fully independent transmission entity would own the grid assets, raise capital on its own balance sheet, and operate free from Eskom's institutional incentives.

CEO Dr Rethabile Melamu believes the revised structure creates practical problems, including the fact that a TSO without assets will be unable to raise capital at competitive rates to finance the 14 500 km of new transmission lines and other supporting infrastructure that South Africa requires.

In addition, the entity will remain dependent on an Eskom subsidiary for network access, perpetuating concerns about non-discriminatory treatment of Eskom Generation when compared with independent power producers.

She also highlights that the structure keeps critical grid infrastructure on Eskom's distressed balance sheet rather than creating a standalone, investment-grade transmission entity.

"The Department of Electricity and Energy and Eskom need to clarify how this structure will attract the private and development finance investment that transmission expansion requires," Melamu tells Engineering News.

"Transparent governance, operational independence from Eskom Generation, and credible timelines for full separation will be essential to maintaining investor confidence. As currently articulated, the revised plan falls short of what the sector needs," she argues.

Similar concerns have been raised by other commentators, including Professor Anton Eberhard, of the Power Futures Lab at the University of Cape Town's Graduate School of Business, who warns that failing to ensure that the transmission grid is "fully liberated" from Eskom could compromise future investment and increase the risk of loadshedding from 2030.

For SAPVIA, resolution of the unbundling issue is particularly important given that it views access to grid infrastructure, both at a transmission and a distribution level, as the most pressing issue facing South Africa's electricity supply sector in 2026.

While there are indications that PV installations could slow globally this year for the first time since its emergence as a significant technology about two decades ago, the association is optimistic of continued growth in South African installations.

Melamu highlights continued interest from renewables investors, noting that the 2025 South African Renewable Energy Grid Survey identified 117 GW of renewable-energy projects at advanced stages of development; capacity that already exceeds the 71.7 GW envisioned in the Integrated Resource Plan of 2025 over its entire 16-year horizon.

"The appetite for investment is clearly not the constraint; the grid is," she avers.

On the transmission side, SAPVIA welcomes the progress being made on the Independent Transmission Programme, but it also notes that Phase 1 addresses only a fraction, or 1 164 km, of the new lines required this decade, and will also not be operational until 2028 at the earliest.

"In the interim, projects in high-resource areas (particularly the Cape regions) compete for limited connection capacity."

At the distribution level, meanwhile, inconsistent municipal implementation of wheeling frameworks and small-scale embedded generation rules are frustrating private investment.

"The National Energy R...

Eskom has offered assurances that the power system is more stable and predictable than it has been for the past five years in light of a strong recovery in the energy availability factor, a decline in unplanned breakdowns, more predictable planned maintenance and the return or introduction to service of some 4 400 MW of capacity when compared with the previous year.

The improvements, CEO Dan Marokane says, have had positive economic spinoffs in the form of improved investor confidence, and have also contributed to South Africa's first credit rating upgrade in two decades.

The stabilisation has been facilitated by a R230-billion debt-relief package, improved maintenance planning and operational performance at Eskom and ongoing structural and regulatory changes, now also backed by legislation, that have enabled the introduction of non-Eskom supply.

There is some uncertainty, however, on whether the current period of stability will add further impetus to the reforms that have been pursued to improve the long-term sustainability of the electricity supply industry, or whether it could emerge as a reason for slowing the pace of these reforms.

This ambiguity is partly reflected in the views of the electricity industry commentators that Engineering News canvassed for their views on what issues should receive priority in 2026. More specifically, whether Eskom's recently revised unbundling plan is supportive of the investments needed to ensure long-term security of supply and greater affordability for both large users and households.

All respondents highlighted the importance of Eskom's unbundling, but some raised questions about the model that has now been adopted, and which has the backing of Electricity and Energy Minister Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa.

Under the revised unbundling framework, the National Transmission Company South Africa (NTCSA) is set to remain a wholly owned subsidiary of Eskom Holdings and retain ownership of the transmission system assets, while a new Transmission System Operator (TSO) will be established as a new State-owned company outside of Eskom Holdings.

The framework suggests that the TSO will develop and approve the Transmission Development Plan (TDP), operate the power system, run the wholesale market, act as the central purchasing agency and provide nondiscriminatory access to the grid for all market participants.

The NTCSA would remain the owner of the transmission assets, however, and will be responsible for financing, constructing and maintaining the physical grid, including the build associated with the TDP.

UNBUNDLING 'HOT POTATO'

Energy Council of South Africa CEO James Mackay describes the unbundling framework as a "hot potato", indicating that valid points and concerns have been raised by both supporters and opponents.

"The optimal end state is to move the transmission asset base into an independent TSO. But, timing, risk and ensuring Eskom Generation doesn't collapse is equally important. So, we need stepped implementation, and I think what Eskom has proposed is a palatable first step if it is done urgently," Mackay tells Engineering News.

However, Professor Anton Eberhard, of the Power Futures Lab at the University of Cape Town's Graduate School of Business, argues that the revised plan is not an optimal solution for accelerating investment, as well as for widening competition and private sector participation.

"Eskom needs to explain why it is proposing a sub-optimal unbundling outcome which may be in its own narrow interests but not that of the sector or country as a whole," he tells Engineering News.

For Eberhard, the most pressing issue facing the electricity supply industry in 2026 is, thus, to have a transmission grid that is "fully liberated" from Eskom.

Failure to complete this fundamentally important structural reform, he adds, will compromise future investment and competition in the power sector and greatly increase the risk of loadshedding from 2030.

"Eskom, as the dominant generator ...

The African Association of Automotive Manufacturers (AAAM) has set eight goals for the new year, says CEO Victoria Backhaus-Jerling.

"As we enter 2026, we proudly declare this the year of 'Progressive development through collaboration'.

"This is the year where momentum turns into measurable outcomes."

The first of the industry body's goals for this year is to unlock intra-African trade through the ratification of the automotive rules of origin under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

In February, Africa's heads of State are expected to formally adopt the 40% African originating content threshold, which Backhaus-Jerling describes as an important milestone that will allow automotive products to begin trading under the AfCFTA framework.

"We will work closely with Afreximbank, the AfCFTA Secretariat and African governments to support our members through expert guidance and implementation," says Backhaus-Jerling.

AAAM's second goal for the new year is to accelerate automotive policy implementation across the continent.

"We will support the rollout and refinement of automotive policies in Egypt, Ghana, Côte d'Ivoire, Kenya, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Senegal, Tanzania and Algeria, and continue engaging new markets such as Angola," notes Backhaus-Jerling.

Policy certainty remains the foundation of sustainable industrialisation, she adds.

The third goal is to advance component manufacturing and localisation.

"Our objective is to secure at least five concrete component manufacturing investments in Africa, driven by targeted matchmaking, feasibility studies and strategic partnerships," says Backhaus-Jerling.

AAAM will also spend the year focusing on enabling legislation that supports the full spectrum of new-energy vehicle technologies in Africa.

The automotive body says it will also focus on continuing to source, develop and provide reliable automotive data and statistics across the continent.

Accurate, credible data remains critical for informed policymaking, investment decisions and tracking the progress of Africa's automotive industrialisation, notes Backhaus-Jerling.

She adds that AAAM will also continue to build capacity across government and the automotive industry through a second cohort scheduled to enter the Government Executive Short Course, as well as the launch of an Industry Executive Short Course.

A seventh goal for AAAM is a focus on mineral beneficiation and value-chain integration.

As a strategic partner to the Investing in African Mining Indaba 2026, AAAM believes it will help to connect Africa's mineral wealth to automotive manufacturing opportunities.

An eighth, and last, goal is to bring affordable mobility to Africa.

"Through collaboration with vehicle asset-financing stakeholders, we will continue working toward accessible, sustainable mobility solutions for Africans," says Backhaus-Jerling.

A new scenario analysis of global trade points to ongoing trade growth over the coming decade despite the imposition of tariffs and rising geopolitical fragmentation. However, it also suggests that the shape of trade could change considerably over the period, including for South Africa.

Published by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), the analysis incorporates four scenarios, including a so-called 'patchwork' scenario that BCG says is gaining momentum.

BCG Global Advantage Practice global leader Aparna Bharadwaj, who co-authored the report, argues that the future of global trade won't be defined by a single set of rules but by a patchwork of relationships and regional priorities.

"For businesses, this isn't just a policy shift. It's a strategic inflection point. Our modelling shows that even amid rising fragmentation, trade remains on a clear growth trajectory, and the advantage will go to those who move early to adapt and lead in this evolving landscape," she adds.

Under the patchwork scenario goods trade is more resilient than many would anticipate given mounting frictions, epitomised by the tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump; actions that have expanded the share of US imports covered by tariffs from 13% to 61% since January 2025.

Trade grows under the scenario by 2.5% yearly from around $23-trillion in 2024 to nearly $30-trillion in 2034 and slightly fastener than global GDP.

However, the trade lanes those goods travel are "dramatically reshaped", with trade flows gravitating around what the BCG describes as four main nodes, namely the US, China, and two informal groupings labelled the 'Plurilateralists' and the 'BRICS+ excluding China'.

The BRICS+ grouping includes South Africa, alongside Brazil, Russia, India, and nations that joined later, such as Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates.

Trade relationships involving this grouping is shown to expand with the Global South as well as China, facilitated by the steps being taken by BRICS+ to collaborate with each other on trade.

The approach to trade differs from country to country, with some negotiating deals with other groupings and some not. However, most typically prioritise sovereignty and retaining policy flexibility rather than entering deeper integration frameworks.

BRICS+ nations excluding China face significant trade winds as they navigate steeper US tariffs of 27.5% while deepening commercial ties with China and the broader Global South, the reports states.

Nevertheless, the findings project 3.3% annual growth through to 2034, with trade linked to China accounting for 40% of this increase.

"What makes this trajectory particularly compelling is the infrastructure being built to accelerate intra-BRICS+ commerce," the BCG states.

"Institutions like the BRICS New Development Bank and expanding non-USD local-currency payment rails are reducing financing and settlement frictions that have historically constrained South-South trade.

"Enhanced logistics connectivity, customs simplification and harmonisation, and digital trade processes are providing practical enablers, while business-led initiatives such as the BRICS Business Council are gaining traction.

"As the bloc works to narrow its current $93-billion trade deficit with China, these mechanisms will be critical to unlocking comparative advantages in energy, metals, mining, and agribusiness, while India and Brazil continue scaling their manufacturing and higher-value production capabilities."

Meanwhile, the analysis points to the US's share of global goods trade declining as it maintains its 'America First' focus, while China's trade growth is projected to grow.

"China's trade growth with the Global South would be driven by its growing need for energy, foods, and industrial inputs, as well as new markets for its finished goods.

The BCG model outlines particularly strong 5.5% CAGR for China over the next decade with other BRICS+ nations and 3% CAGR with the rest of the world.

In this article, EE Business Intelligence MD Chris Yelland and consultant Paul Vermeulen argue that mismanagement is not the only reason for the failure of municipal electricity distributors and that larger design flaws should also be taken into account. They also assert that better debt collection alone will not address the crisis and that structural remedies are needed to rebalance risk and cost across the electricity value chain.

South Africa's municipal electricity debt crisis is often reduced to a familiar story: failing councils, weak billing systems, political interference, and a culture of non-payment. There is truth in that, but it is incomplete.

Municipal electricity debt has become a macroeconomic and industrial issue because electricity distribution is not a niche municipal service – it is a central artery of the economy. Municipal distributors supply households, malls, office parks, factories, hospitals and public infrastructure. When municipal electricity trading accounts collapse, the effects ripple outward: maintenance is deferred, outages multiply, network losses rise, and investment decisions tilt away from municipal supply areas. The result is a slow degradation of reliability, affordability and competitiveness.

The uncomfortable implication is that municipal arrears are not simply a symptom of poor local governance. They are also the predictable outcome of an electricity distribution industry (EDI) structure that has, over time, placed municipal distributors in an increasingly untenable position – financially, operationally and politically. The crisis should properly be framed as a structural misalignment at the centre of South Africa's EDI, with Eskom in the thick of it.

Structural lock-in: how municipalities became dependent on Eskom

Historically, many municipalities generated, transmitted and distributed their own power largely to "white" residents, businesses and services, with revenues aligned to local networks and local responsibilities. Over time, that model was dismantled. Eskom's centralised generation expanded, while the municipal customer base grew and municipalities transitioned into bulk purchasers – effectively retailers and network operators – and no longer generators.

That shift created a dependency on Eskom that has proven extraordinarily difficult to escape. Most municipalities now source virtually all their electricity from Eskom under bulk supply agreements, while carrying expanded responsibility for operating, maintaining and growing their local distribution networks.

In theory, municipalities can diversify supply through Independent Power Producers (IPPs). In practice, their ability to do so has been constrained by regulation, licensing and ministerial determinations, complex procurement rules, competency issues, and unsettled wheeling and trading frameworks – even where network capacity exists. This "locked-in dependency" is such that municipalities do not have own generation control or practical freedom to procure competitively at scale, but remain fully exposed to Eskom's escalating tariffs and demand penalties.

This lock-in matters because it turns municipal electricity distribution into a pass-through business with a widening structural gap: the municipality must buy at whatever Eskom charges, but sell into a local economy with limited affordability, weak payment discipline, and growing alternatives for better-resourced customers.

Tariffs and non-payment: the post-2007 affordability shock

In addition to governance issues, a driver for municipal failure is the escalation in Eskom's bulk tariffs from about 2007 onward – not merely above inflation, but at levels that completely rewired the affordability of electricity for households and businesses.

The dramatic post-2007 electricity price trajectory indicates steep increases coinciding with the onset of loadshedding and Eskom's new-build programme. The core point is not the exact percentage in any single year – it is the compoundi...

The 2025 new-vehicle market has finally recovered to above 2019 pre-pandemic levels, says naamsa | The Automotive Business Council.

South Africa's new-vehicle market reached 536 612 units in 2019.

Naamsa noted on Wednesday that last year's significant upward swing was tied closely to improvements in the South African economy, recent interest rate cuts, record-low vehicle inflation, an influx of affordable vehicle imports, as well as a liquidity injection from two-pot retirement system withdrawals.

Total new-vehicle sales in the domestic market were up 15.7% in 2025, at 596 818 units, compared with 2024's 515 976 units.

All segments saw growth, except for heavy trucks and buses, which were down 3%.

Medium-commercial vehicle sales expanded by 5.6% year-on-year, with light commercial vehicles up 7.8% and passenger cars up 20.1%.

New-vehicle exports from South Africa did not have quite the same success, but still managed to stay in the green, with exports up 4.4% for the year.

At 408 224 units, exports breached the 400 000-mark for the time, noted naamsa.

The industry body added that it continued to monitor Europe – South Africa's biggest new-vehicle export market – which had softened its 2035 ban on internal combustion engines from 100% of the market to 90% of the market.

naamsa said this provided marginal reprieve for local vehicle manufacturers as they continued to navigate the global energy transition race.

It noted, however, that this regulatory reprieve "should not be misconstrued as an opportunity for policy inertia, or a relaxation of the requisite strategic pivot as the transition to clean mobility remains an existential priority, necessitating a sustained and accelerated policy review to safeguard South Africa's export competitiveness".

This warning comes as the South African automotive industry eagerly awaits direction from national government on its revised support to local vehicle and parts manufacturers in light of the worldwide move to electric vehicle production.

naamsa also warned that the export landscape remained complex.

"While South Africa is a regional leader, global geopolitical tensions and trade barriers are assessed as tilted to the downside.

"Reemergent tensions between South Africa and the US administration remain a source of potential volatility.

"The exclusion of South Africa from the 2026 G20 gathering, and legislative moves proposing a two-year African Growth and Opportunity Act extension that might explicitly exclude South Africa, are being monitored closely."

Looking at the local market, naamsa believed new-vehicle sales were poised for a further 9% to 11% improvement this year, especially as China's declining domestic vehicle market was increasingly driving its manufacturers to seek out growth in export markets.

Eskom offers more details on envisaged roles for the NTCSA and the TSO

Eskom has provided further details on the distinctive roles it envisages being performed by the National Transmission Company South Africa (NTCSA) in relation to the transmission system when compared with the yet-to-be-established Transmission System Operator (TSO).

Under a newly approved unbundling framework, the NTCSA is set to remain a wholly owned subsidiary of Eskom Holdings and retain ownership of the transmission system assets, while the TSO will be established as a new State-owned Company outside of Eskom Holdings.

The TSO is expected to be the transmitter, the system and market operator, the central purchasing agency, and have responsibility for ancillary services such as frequency control and voltage regulation.

The Electricity Regulation Amendment Act, which came into force in early 2025, set a five-year timeframe for the creation of the independent TSO, which is seen as important for levelling the grid-access playing field in a future competitive electricity supply industry.

Statements released by Eskom and the NTCSA pointed to a potential overlap in responsibilities for the grid, however.

In the Eskom statement it was indicated that besides owning the grid assets, the NTCSA would be responsible for expanding the high-voltage transmission grid and rolling-out the Transmission Development Plan (TDP).

In the NTCSA statement, it was indicated that the TSO would develop and execute the TDP, maintain and operate the transmission grid, and provide non-discriminatory access to that grid to all market participants.

In a response to an Engineering News enquiry seeking clarity on which entity was responsible for maintaining and operating the grid, Eskom said that the NTCSA would remain the licensed, regulated owner of the transmission assets within the Eskom group and would be responsible for financing, constructing and maintaining the physical grid, including the build associated with the TDP.

The independent TSO, meanwhile, would perform what Eskom described as the functional 'transmitter' role: it will develop and approve the TDP, operate the power system, run the wholesale market, act as the central purchasing agency and provide non-discriminatory access to the grid for all market participants.

The NTCSA, it added, would implement the TSO's plan through regulated and arm's-length commercial arrangements, with the National Energy Regulator of South Africa overseeing both entities' licences and conduct.

"The apparent overlap arises because both descriptions refer to the same value chain, but from different angles.

"The TSO will decide what grid is needed, where and when, and will manage system and market operations; the NTCSA will be responsible for building, owning and maintaining that grid in line with the TSO's plan.

"These complementary roles will be formally codified in legislation, licences and commercial agreements to avoid duplication and ensure clear accountability," Eskom explained in a response to Engineering News.

The National Transmission Company South Africa (NTCSA) reports that it remains open to finding a solution for the Mozal aluminium smelter. But it also insists that any new electricity supply agreement with the Mozambican facility should safeguard its financial stability and protect South African electricity consumers from unintended costs.

In a statement following an announcement by South32 that Mozal would be placed into care and maintenance when a 20-year electricity deal expired on March 15, the Eskom Holdings subsidiary indicated that Mozal required an electricity price that was "significantly lower than the direct cost of supply".

CEO Monde Bala said such an arrangement was not sustainable for the NTCSA, while also noting that the Negotiated Price Agreement (NPA) policy mechanism, which allows electricity intensive companies to apply to the regulator for discounted tariffs, did not extend beyond South Africa's borders.

"As such, a mutually beneficial solution, developed collaboratively with stakeholders in both Mozambique and South Africa, is essential to support regional industrial activity, while ensuring the NTCSA's financial sustainability and fairness to South African electricity consumers," Bala added.

Nevertheless, he also said the NTCSA remained available to find an "appropriate price range for the supply of electricity to secure a new supply agreement with our valued customer".

On December 16, South32 CEO Graham Kerr indicated that the parties remained deadlocked on an appropriate electricity price, and that its attention had thus turned to safely placing the smelter on care and maintenance from March 2026.

The Mozal announcement comes amid moves in South Africa to salvage ferrochrome smelting capacity at risk of closure as a result of electricity prices that have surged over the past decade and a half.

Electricity and Energy Minister Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa indicated on December 15 that negotiations were under way in a bid to find a way to deliver electricity at a "sweet spot" of between 60c/kWh and 70c/kWh.

This, after Glencore-Merafe Chrome Venture and Samancor Chrome, which had both initiated retrenchment processes at some of their operations, rejected an offer of 87c/kWh and indicated that the current NPA price of 135c/kWh had made the South African smelters uncompetitive with those in China, despite the price being well below the normal tariff of 212c/kWh.

Moneyweb reports that Ramokgopa had stated that the deal could cost R5.2-billion to implement, but did not indicate how it would be funded.

On December 8, Eskom signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Samancor Chrome and the Glencore-Merafe Chrome Venture in a bid to finalise an electricity tariff solution that prevented the closure of additional smelting capacity and averted the threat of widespread job cuts in the sector.

Under the MoU, the companies have set a deadline of February 28, 2026, for reaching a pricing agreement.

It is understood that there is a proposal to set up an entity that buys low-cost coal to be used by some Eskom power stations, which will pass on the pricing benefits to the ferrochrome smelters in the form of discounted tariffs.

The idea is to use the lower tariffs to revive domestic smelting without burdening the rest of Eskom's standard-tariff customers, which have hitherto absorbed the costs of NPAs.

South Africa has named seven pre-qualified bidders from an initial list of 17 respondents to the prequalification phase of the country's inaugural independent transmission project (ITP) programme, a request for proposals (RfP) for which will be launched in the second half of 2026.

The companies have been prequalified to bid to build 1 164-km of powerlines and associated substation infrastructure across seven preselected corridors, and the projects are expected to have a combined investment value of about $1-billion.

Electricity and Energy Minister Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa confirmed that all of the prequalified consortia are led by international companies that were able to prove prior experience in building such projects elsewhere.

Such experience was a criteria included in the request for qualification (RfQ) documentation, which has been criticised for excluding local companies.

Ramokgopa promised, however, that subsequent ITP procurement phases would include majority South African project owners, while South African and black empowerment equity participation was still a qualifying criteria for the inaugural bid window.

Efforts would also be made to ensure local content even during the first phase in line with localisation designations approved by the South African government, as well as to ensure the participation of local construction, operations and maintenance companies.

No clarity was provided as to what legal framework would be used to enforce the designations, however.

It was also confirmed that price would be the main evaluation criteria.

Ramokgopa insisted that South African participation would be progressively increased in subsequent phases, as government had identified the multidecade grid roll-out as a major industrialisation opportunity for the country.

The seven companies eligible to participate in the RfP phase were identified as:

the Adani Power Middle East-Momentous Energy Consortium, led by Adani Power Middle East Limited, based in the United Arab Emirates; the AREF Cobra Transmission Consortium, led by the South African arm of Grupo Cobra, of Spain;Consortium Pulse Infrastructure, led by Celeo Redes, of Spain;the EITP Consortium, led by Okavango Projects SA;the State Grid Consortium, led by the State Grid International Development Company, of China;The Hyperion Consortium, led by the South African arm of French multinational EDF; andthe Transmission Africa Consortium, led by China Southern Power Grid International.

The seven prequalified companies all responded to the RfQ launched on July 31, 2025, with a response submission date of September 23, 2025.

The evaluation process, conducted by an independent bid evaluation committee, took place at the IPP Office, which has been mandated to oversee the inaugural bid window.

Ramokgopa said the ITP programme formed part of a drive to expand, modernise and strengthen South Africa's transmission network through sustained private sector participation.

However, he also stressed that the National Transmission Company South Africa, which is set to remain an Eskom Holding subsidiary, was also continuing to build grid infrastructure in line with the Transmission Development Plan (TDP).

The ten-year TDP envisages the construction of 14 500 km of new powerlines and 133 000 MVA of additional transformers by 2034 at an estimated cost of more than R400-billion.

The RfP for the initial ITP projects has also been delayed to coincide with the launch of a new Credit Guarantee Vehicle (CGV), which will enable the projects to proceed in the absence of National Treasury guarantees.

The CGV, which will be a private non-life insurance company, regulated by the Prudential Authority, is scheduled to be launched in July 2026, with the National Treasury having already announced that it will inject seed equity of R2-billion into the vehicle, giving it a minority shareholding.

The balance of the equity is expected to be source from development finance institutions with the timing of its lau...