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Recent outbreaks of cholera have prompted President Cyril Ramaphosa to ask Water and Sanitation Minister Senzo Mchunu to make recommendations to strengthen the governance, management and regulatory framework for municipal water and sanitation services.

This includes ensuring that national minimum norms and standards are comprehensive, monitored and adhered to by all water service providers, he said.

Ramaphosa wrote in his weekly letter to the nation that the recent cholera outbreak in Hammanskraal, in Gauteng and in the Free State had shown the importance of safe and effective water and waste water management.

Twenty-four people have succumbed to cholera.

Ramaphosa noted that unreliable and poor-quality drinking water has been a problem in Hammanskraal for many years.

“The Rooiwal wastewater treatment works, which is upstream of Hammanskraal, has not been well-maintained and has insufficient capacity to deal with the volume of waste water entering the works,” he said.

He explained that over the years, in its role as the regulator of the water sector, the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) has issued many directives to the City of Tshwane to address pollution from the Rooiwal wastewater treatment works.

Regrettably, he added that these directives were not acted on.

Ramaphosa said as a result, the Department initiated legal action to force the City to use its grant from national government to refurbish and upgrade the wastewater treatment works.

“Disease outbreaks such as the cholera outbreak in Hammanskraal are made far worse in situations of poor governance, weak management and poor maintenance of infrastructure. We have a responsibility – and are determined – to remedy those shortcomings in a sustainable way and as a matter of urgency,” he said.

He noted that while there must be full accountability for the failings that have resulted in the cholera outbreak in Hammanskraal, government must stop the spread of cholera and take remedial measures to safeguard human health.

Ramaphosa explained that, generally, water quality in South Africa was of a high standard, which, according to the country’s Water Research Commission, “compares well with the best in the world”. It is important to note that the dual water systems supplied by Magalies and Rand Water to the Tshwane area meet national standards, he added.

He said an investigation was underway into the source of the outbreak.

Technical teams from the City of Tshwane, the DWS, and the provincial and national departments of health are carrying out water quality tests at distribution points and at water treatment works in the area, he said.

“They are also tracking and tracing infections. To date, the original source of the cholera infection has not been located. However, this waterborne disease is highly transmissible in conditions where there is inadequate access to clean water and sanitation facilities,” Ramaphosa explained.

He said as government wait for the results of the investigation into the cholera outbreak in Hammanskraal, it is critical that local government authorities continue to work closely with national government to address and overcome the immediate challenges with water quality in Hammanskraal.

He explained that it is encouraging that the City of Tshwane and the Department of Water and Sanitation are working together to ensure the various water supply systems meet drinking quality standards.

Parliament's lawyers will write to former Eskom CEO André de Ruyter to solicit the controversial intelligence reports he commissioned, the chairperson of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa), Mkhuleko Hlengwa, said on Friday.

The committee is holding a series of hearings about the allegations made by De Ruyter that Eskom was in the grip of organised criminal syndicates with links to senior politicians. De Ruyter has said this came to light in an intelligence-driven investigation he initiated, conducted by George Fivaz Forensic and Risk in 2022.

So far, none of the entities and people called to the Scopa hearings have admitted to possessing the reports.

The intelligence reports have grown increasingly controversial since it was revealed by News24 last month that they were poor quality and packed with conspiracy theories and unverified information. The committee also intends to call De Ruyter to appear before it again in the next few weeks, along with SAPS Brigadier Jap Burger and others.

On Friday, President Cyril Ramaphosa's national security advisor, Sydney Mufamadi, gave Parliament new clarity on what the government knew about the reports and how it had responded.

Mufamadi said that De Ruyter had briefed him at a meeting in his office last July, which had been arranged by Minister of Public Enterprises Pravin Gordhan. This was in contrast to Gordhan's version at the committee last week, in which he said De Ruyter had not properly informed him of the intelligence operation and had told him "in passing."

But Mufamadi described the meeting "as a serious meeting" to which he was formally invited.

The invitation for me to attend came from Minister Gordhan, who said he would get a report from Mr De Ruyter and that if there was any decision to be made, I could advise him. That is why I went.

At the meeting, De Ruyter had given him a flavour of what was in the intelligence report but had not given him the report to take away, nor did he ask for it.

"What he said was enough for me to advise De Ruyter to interact with the law enforcement agencies. I said that from the Presidency's side we would make sure that if law enforcement needed any support, it would be provided."

Mufamadi said that following his advice to De Ruyter, he spoke to SAPS National Commissioner Fannie Masemola, who confirmed that he was in touch with De Ruyter and that criminality at power stations in Mpumalanga was already under investigation. He said he regarded this as the best way to discharge his responsibilities, as the allegations made raised by De Ruyter had to be properly investigated and verified.

Asked by several MPs why he did not see it as necessary to request the report, Mufamadi said that his role as advisor to the president was at a strategic level, and it was not appropriate to become "the investigating officer".

Mufamadi, like Gordhan, also refused to provide the names of the senior politicians De Ruyter had told the two of them were implicated in Eskom corruption. He said it was also inappropriate to pass the names on to Ramaphosa.

"Was there any name dropping? Yes, there was a mention of names, but I am not prepared to mention them. When names are mentioned in a context such as this, my advice is to interact with law enforcement agencies. Once the investigators have verified everything they need, they will make a decision on who should be informed. If I had to get excited and mention those names, I would be doing an injustice to those people," he said.

Mufamadi would not be drawn on his view of whether national security had been compromised by De Ruyter, who was not vetted by the State Security Agency and yet had been in charge of a company at the heart of the country's security. As this was a matter on which he had advised Ramaphosa, he said he was not at liberty to give his view and suggested that the committee should seek its own advice.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) said on Friday it trusts that the African National Congress (ANC) will put “petty party differences” aside and support the DA’s coalition Bills, which it will soon introduce to Parliament.

The party welcomed Deputy President Paul Mashatile’s commitment to support the introduction of legislation that will seek to stabilise coalition governments.

Answering questions in the National Assembly on Thursday, Mashatile acknowledged the importance of the issue of coalitions, calling for urgency and “collective wisdom” on the matter.

DA Chief Whip Siviwe Gwarube said Mashatile committed to bring together stakeholders, such as political parties in Parliament, the South African Local Government Association and government, to adopt policy and legislative interventions.

Gwarube stressed the importance of stable, clean and accountable coalition governments.

“This will be especially important as we head towards the 2024 elections where the ANC [African National Congress] is likely to lose its national majority and [its] majority in a few provinces. Parliament must ready itself for a post-ANC South Africa,” she said.

The DA’s Bills, which seek to amend the Constitution and the Municipal Structures Act of 1998, have been gazetted for public comment.

Gwarube noted that the amendments would provide a legal framework for stable and accountable coalition governments at the local, provincial and national levels.

The laws will seek to achieve the introduction of an electoral threshold that will be key to stabilising overly-fragmented coalition governments.

International best practice showed that most stable coalition governments around the world have electoral thresholds in place, she said.

Gwarube said the Bills would allow for more time to negotiate and swear in a government after an election from 14 days to 30 days across local, provincial and national levels.

It will also limit the use of motions of no confidence to once a year, provided there is evidence of laws being broken and objective gross misconduct, she explained.

She noted that motions of no confidence had been abused at a local government level, and added that the impact of such a practice at a provincial or national level would be catastrophic.

Following a cholera outbreak in Hammanskraal, the death toll has risen to 21, with a spike in confirmed cases also reported.

The person died after the Gauteng health department announced the 20th death since the outbreak of the acute diarrhoeal disease.

On Friday, the department said the number of "laboratory-confirmed" cases of cholera treated at Jubilee District Hospital in Hammanskraal had risen to 44.

The number of confirmed cases stood at 29 on Thursday afternoon.

"Currently, 74 patients are admitted due to gastrointestinal infection," the department said on Friday morning.

The department added, "We advise the public to report to their nearest health facilities when they present with diarrhoea, nausea, vomiting, stomach cramps and dehydration symptoms, so they can receive medical treatment."

More than 170 people have been treated for diarrhoeal disease at Jubilee hospital since the outbreak.

Earlier this week, health officials said all cases in which people exhibited symptoms associated with diarrhoeal disease would be treated according to cholera treatment protocols.

On Thursday, the health department in the Free State announced that it had recorded its first cholera-related death.

The African National Congress (ANC) and the Democratic Alliance (DA) retained their council seats in by-elections in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal, which took place on Wednesday, with low voter turnout and no notable surprises in the outcomes.

Though with a slight decline, the DA's new councillor in the Ekurhuleni metro's ward 25 is Daniel Putter, who retained his party's seat, which it won in the 2021 municipal elections, with 66.1% of the total votes cast, compared to 69.7% during the municipal elections.

Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) spokesperson Kate Bapela pegged the voter turnout at 25.6% in this ward.

The DA's Yvonne Combrinck retained the Lesedi Municipality's ward 8 in Gauteng, with an increase to 52.45% of the total votes cast from the 50.8% won during the 2021 municipal elections, the IEC said.

Voter turnout in this ward was at 32.3%.

DA leader Daniel Mea, 27, romped to victory in the eThekwini metro's Chatsworth-based ward 73, beating former DA leader Ronnie Pillay.

Mea retained the DA's seat, which it won in the 2021 municipal elections, with 81.7% of the total votes, compared to 67.4% during the local elections in 2021. The voter turnout in Chatsworth was 27.2%.

Mea's victory is significant in that he beat a veteran councillor, who had received the backing of President Cyril Ramaphosa, who had campaigned in the ward in early May.

The ANC's support dipped in the Mandeni Municipality's ward 15, even though it retained the ward. The ANC's new councillor Ngcebo Dludla won 67.9% of the total votes cast, in contrast to 70% garnered during the 2021 municipal elections.

According to the IEC, the voter turnout on 24 May was 36.37%. In brief statements, the ANC in KZN thanked people in the Mandeni and uMzimkhulu municipalities for their votes.

DA leader in KwaZulu-Natal Francois Rodgers said their single, significant ward win has buoyed the party ahead of the 2024 general election.

"The DA in KZN is humbled and elated by the trust that residents continue to have in the DA," Rodgers said of the Chatsworth by-election win with 81.7% in support, up from the 67.5% in 2021.

He took a swipe at former DA councillor Pillay, who ran on the ANC's ticket.

"This despite the ANC's bogus claims that they welcomed hundreds of 'former DA members' members who, to date, the DA does not recognise," he said.

"The ANC once again proved its desperation to win at any cost. Post-President Ramaphosa's visit to ward 73, the ANC has been hard at work handing out [SA Social Security Agency] food vouchers to voters, including on voting day."

KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube is seeking legal opinion on the steps that should be taken against the company responsible for the non-delivery of food items to schools in the province as part of the National School Nutrition Programme.

When schools opened in April this year, for the second term, it was discovered that the service provider failed to honour the terms of the contract with the Department of Education.

This has since caused the non-delivery of food items to all schools on April 12, shortages of deliveries in recent weeks, the supply of non-compliant food items and long distances travelled by service providers to collection points. A lack of manpower to offload food from trucks and onto the individual service providers’ transport, and the non-supply of gas to schools was also a challenge. It has also led to the Premier instituting a Ministerial Committee to deal with the challenges in the National School Nutrition Programme.

“The service provider subsequently addressed correspondence to the Department of Education on 26 April 2023, notifying the Department of its withdrawal from the contract provided they are paid for services rendered so far, parallel to the investigation processes that are underway. In the week starting from 02 May 2023, after the extended weekend, all MECs, HODs, senior management in the Department of Education and other government departments, visited schools across the province to ensure that food items were delivered and that children were being fed nutritious meals as expected. All challenges facing the school nutrition programme in the province have been addressed and children are indeed being fed in schools,” said Dube-Ncube.

Dube-Ncube has led oversight visits to assess the implementation of the feeding programme in schools across all districts and has also expressed concerns about misleading reports regarding the non-delivery of food in some schools, where investigations have revealed that those schools had in fact received food deliveries.

“Political party leaders across party lines have demonstrated that they are firmly committed to representing the interests and needs of all our people, by way of their contributions, to ensure that all children receive a nutritious meal every day. It is, however, disappointing that some leaders opted to politicise the issue. This was to undermine the resolve demonstrated by the provincial government to respond to the matter decisively and swiftly. We must guard against political grandstanding, and rather work together for the greater good of our society,” she said.

All community structures have been requested to work with government and report any challenges to ensure that there are no further disruptions to the programme. Dube-Ncube will in a few days appear before the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Legislature to answer questions about matters of provincial importance.

The South African Reserve Bank's monetary policy committee hiked interest rates by 50 basis points to 8.25%. This is in line with what many economists and the market expected.

The earlier consensus expectation was for 25 basis points, but the rand's crash to a record low in the wake of US allegations that Russia received arms in South Africa has raised inflation risks. A weaker rand will fuel inflation.

The members of monetary policy committee all voted unanimously in favour of the hike.

The central bank has now hiked rates by 475 basis points of tightening since November 2021.

"Economic and financial conditions are expected to remain more volatile for the foreseeable future" Reserve Bank Governor Lesetja Kganyago said on Thursday.

"In this uncertain environment, monetary policy decisions will continue to be data dependent, and sensitive to the balance of risks to the outlook."

Kganyago said that the bank had been saying for some time that it was tightening monetary policy but that it had not yet reached "restrictive territory".

"Now, we have just reached restrictive territory. We have got to see the effects of this policy stance and what it means.

"In the long term, South Africans will benefit from this tight stance, because the stance will bring down inflation. And the cries of South Africans had been that inflation is eroding their incomes.

"Does it hurt? Yes in the short term. But we have got to take the short-term pain in the interest of long-term gain."

On a new home loan of R2-million at the prime rate, the latest increase hikes the monthly instalment by around R690. Since November 2021, monthly payments on a R2-million home loan are almost R6 200 more expensive due to a raft of rate hikes.

South Africa's annual inflation rate reached an 11-month low in April, cooling to 6.80% from 7.10% in March, it was announced on Tuesday. Inflation slowed by more than economists expected.

However, food inflation continued to remain sticky around 14-year highs, at 13.90% - from 14% the previous month.

Some economists expect the first interest rate cut only at the start of next year.

South Africa is considering extending the lives of some of its biggest coal-fired power plants as the government seeks to bolster the country’s long-term energy security amid a deepening crisis.

Kendal and Lethabo, two plants that represent about fifth of the State-owned power utility’s current capacity, are possible candidates, according to people familiar with the matter. Officials tasked with ending the crisis and making sure it doesn’t recur are looking at all options, the people said, asking not to be identified as the plans aren’t yet public.

The ruling African National Congress is scrambling to deal with the fallout from intensifying power cuts a year before elections. However, extending the lives of the polluting coal-fired giants would be a financial challenge for embattled Eskom and raise questions about South Africa’s commitment to curbing greenhouse gas emissions.

For the moment, the government and utility Eskom are planning to delay the decommissioning of units at smaller coal plants, due over the next year or two. The focus is on Hendrina, Grootvlei and Camden, the utility said.

“The consideration of continuation of operation at present focuses on those older stations, which happen to be the smaller units,” Eskom said in a response to queries.

Those three plants have a combined capacity of 4.9 gigawatts — compared with 8 gigawatts for Kendal and Lethabo — and are already partially idled. Camden and Grootvlei were previously mothballed and then reopened.

The cost of running those operations longer will be assessed against the cost of running diesel-fired plants, which are usually used sparingly at times of high demand, or whether the costs outweigh the hit to the economy from sustained outages.

More ambitious extensions would be a financial challenge, with Eskom prohibited from new borrowing as a condition of its R254-billion bailout. With commercial banks reluctant to finance coal projects given climate considerations, modifications to extend plant lives would need to be funded from cash flow.

The plants would also need costly pollution abatement requirements, unless they were granted exemptions. That would raise concerns about long-term climate goals in South Africa, the world’s 14th-largest source of greenhouse gases.

Spokespeople for Kgosientsho Ramakgopa, the electricity minister, didn’t respond to queries. Neither did the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment.

German Consortium

Eskom is hopeful that expansion of private sector generation capacity and a strengthening of the national grid will make larger projects unnecessary. Kendal and Lethabo are due to be decommissioned after 2035.

As an initial step in determining the future of South Africa’s coal-fired plants, the government will assess the findings of a group of German consultants. The group, led by vgbe energy, has assessed Eskom’s 14 operating coal plants and is completing its report, according to vgbe, a technical association of energy-plant operators from 34 countries.

South Africa's central bank will likely extend its tightening cycle and push rates cuts further into the future amid countrywide power outages and currency weakness, analysts said, adding to inflationary pressures straining businesses and households.

The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) - which is facing a dilemma of how to keep a lid on inflation without further stifling already anaemic economic growth - has hiked its main lending rate by 425 basis points since November 2021.

But inflation continues to run hot.

The next rate decision is on Thursday, and a majority of economists surveyed by Reuters last week expect a 25 basis points (bps) hike to 8%.

But some analysts, like Nicolaie Alexandru-Chidesciuc at JPMorgan, have ramped up their forecasts, now expecting the bank to deliver a 50 bps hike and predicting the first rate cut would not come until well into 2024.

"The risk of worsening electricity cuts as well geopolitical concerns after the US ambassador claimed the country was not acting in a non-aligned manner in the Russia-Ukraine conflict have significantly impacted the currency," said Alexandru-Chidesciuc.

The outlook faced by South African policy makers is at odds with other developing economies' central banks, many of which have front-run the US Federal Reserve in their hiking cycles and are gearing up to deliver cuts in the coming months.

This provides relief at a time when growth woes for the world's top two economies - the US and China - dominate. Among major emerging markets, only Israel and Colombia have recently raised rates. Hungary on Tuesday started the first policy easing cycle in Europe.

SARB Deputy Governor Rashad Cassim acknowledged in an interview with Reuters on May 3 that rate hikes were unpopular in a low-growth economy but said the priority was managing inflation expectations. Annual consumer price inflation is running at over 7%, above the central bank's target range of 3%-6%.

"We want to ensure that the depreciated exchange rate and (high) food prices don't permeate into other parts of the inflation basket," Cassim said.

"If we did nothing, (consumer) income is going to erode more and more. So maybe a little initial pain may benefit consumers in the medium to long run."

South Africans were already facing rising prices after Covid-19 and the Ukraine war disrupted supply chains. The power crisis has added to pressure, as businesses, including food producers and retailers, spend more on alternatives such as diesel generators and pass on the costs to consumers.

The central bank estimates that rolling blackouts - which can last up to 10 hours a day - will add 0.5 percentage points to headline inflation in 2023.

The rand weakening more than 10% this year makes imports more expensive.

"With the rand's substantial weakness and markedly higher production and retail costs coming from (power cuts), the risk to the inflation outlook on balance is still on the upside," said Annabel Bishop, chief economist at South African lender Investec.

"We expect on balance that a 50 basis points hike is more likely ... instead of a 25 basis points lift."

CREDIT WORRIES

Credit demand has been rising as household incomes have not kept up with prices, economists said, and higher borrowing costs could increase indebtedness.

The rate of new defaults on credit cards in the fourth quarter rose 20% year-on-year and those on home loans 19%, according to a Eighty20/XDS credit stress report.

"Even if interest rates come down at least by 2025, we may see the consumer still battling with the price pressures they had to deal with now, and how they might have chosen to deal with them," said Koketso Mano, senior economist at South African lender FNB.

Parliament's Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) says it plans to call former Eskom CEO André de Ruyter to appear before the committee again, along with several other people, as it continues its probe into corruption allegations at the company.

Following allegations by De Ruyter in a television interview in February that corruption was rife at Eskom and that the African National Congress was looting the company, the committee has been looking into the matter.

De Ruyter, who at his last appearance at Scopa refused to answer all the questions and would not name the two "senior politicians" he claimed were implicated in corruption, will face another harsh inquisition by the committee. MPs are outraged that De Ruyter refused to be fully vetted by the State Security Agency but was the CEO of an entity that is a national key point.

This time he may be subpoenaed, which will compel him to answer fully or face a charge of contempt of Parliament.

Committee chairperson Mkhuleko Hlengwa said this would be decided later once the committee had its final list of people it wanted to call. The complete list will be made final on Friday.

So far, in addition to De Ruyter, the committee has suggested calling the Eskom board for a second time, the Auditor-General, the director-general in the Presidency Phindile Baleni, Business Leadership CEO Busi Mavuso – whose organisation funded the intelligence reports commissioned by De Ruyter – and General Jap Burger of the SAPS.

Hlengwa said that "a protracted engagement" was needed with Burger, who had turned out to be a central player in the intelligence collection events. Burger had been designated by police National Commissioner Fannie Masemola as De Ruyter's contact person in the police with whom he could share the intelligence gathered.

On Friday, President Cyril Ramaphosa's national security adviser Sydney Mufamadi will appear before the committee.