Source: Government of Qatar
Doha, June 30, 2026
HE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Sultan bin Saad Al Muraikhi met on Tuesday with HE Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the Union of the Comoros Mbae Mohamed, who is visiting Qatar.
The meeting discussed bilateral cooperation relations and ways to enhance and develop them, along with a host of topics of mutual interest.
Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Imraan Valodia, Pro Vice-Chancellor, Climate, Sustainability and Inequality and Director, Southern Centre for Inequality Studies, University of the Witwatersrand
The vulnerability of the world economy to oil prices was painfully visible in the first half of 2026 following the US and Israel war against Iran. The power of this commodity to upend economies has been apparent before. In his recently published book Crude Capitalism: Oil, Corporate Power, and the Making of the World Market, political economist Adam Hanieh provides an expansive history of the connections between oil and capitalism since the 1800s. Economist Imraan Valodia asked him about the book.
A main motivation was a dissatisfaction with many of the standard ways of discussing the history of oil and its place in the global economy. Much of the dominant narrative around oil tends to invest it with some kind of innate power, separate from the social and economic logics of capitalism.
What I try to do in the book is foreground what these are. Things like the drive towards endless accumulation, the incessant speeding up of production and consumption, mechanisation and so forth. And I ask how these qualities have served to centre oil in our energy system.
So the book is not just a history of oil, but a history of capitalism seen through oil.
I also wanted to move beyond histories that are overwhelmingly focused on the US. It is obviously crucial to the story. But our oil-centred world was made through wider global relations. These included colonial extraction, the development of the Soviet oil industry, the transformations of post-Soviet Russia and, more recently, the rise of China and East Asia as central nodes in global energy demand, refining and petrochemical production.
Another major concern of the book is tracing what oil becomes after it is pumped from the ground, beyond simply a liquid transport fuel. So I examine areas such as the petrochemical industry (plastics, fertilisers, synthetic fibres and so forth) as well as oil’s crucial place in the contemporary financial system.
Standard Oil (1870-1911) was owned by the Rockefellers. It established many of the organisational forms that would later define the global oil industry. John D. Rockefeller’s key insight was to grasp the power that came from controlling the whole value chain through which oil moves. Standard Oil integrated refining, transport, storage, pipelines, marketing and finance into a single corporate structure. It used its command over railroads and later pipelines to squeeze competitors, lower costs and shape the market around itself. Much of the subsequent history of the oil industry revolves around this basic lesson – corporate power comes from vertical integration, and the ability to control the infrastructures through which oil circulates.
The corporate structures built up around Standard Oil were closely connected to the wider architecture of American capitalism. Tax systems, corporate law, banking, capital markets and state policy all became central to how oil companies grew and operated. The later global dominance of US oil firms was built on these wider innovations, and remained closely tied to support from the US state.
We can see the legacy of this today. Many national oil companies, especially in the Gulf monarchies, are now pursuing similar strategies of vertical integration.
Anglo-Persian Oil Company (APOC), which was founded by Britain in 1908, exemplified the relationship between oil extraction and colonialism. The company’s rise in Iran depended on concessionary agreements protected by imperial power. Britain’s interest in Persian oil was closely tied to the needs of empire, especially the fuelling of the Royal Navy.
APOC became a way of linking Middle Eastern oilfields to British military and industrial strength. This set a precedent for the wider Middle East, where a handful of foreign oil companies sought long-term control over oil reserves, infrastructure, pricing and export routes.
This also shaped the subsequent political history of the Middle East. Oil became a focal point for struggles over sovereignty because foreign control of the industry revealed the limits of formal independence. Producer governments were often constrained by companies that controlled technical expertise, transport, marketing and access to world markets. In response, different forms of oil nationalism emerged, from demands for a greater share of revenues to full nationalisation.
Iran’s attempt to nationalise oil in 1951 under Mohammad Mossadegh is the most famous example. But the broader pattern was regional. Across the Middle East, oil became a battlefield for states and nationalist forces to challenge colonial domination and foreign corporate power.
The formation of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) in 1960 and the later rise of national oil companies has to be understood against this background.
He sits at the intersection of finance, empire and the making of the modern oil industry. He was an Armenian businessman born in the Ottoman Empire, educated partly in Europe, who became one of the most influential intermediaries of early 20th-century oil. His nickname, “Mr Five Per Cent”, came from the 5% stake he secured in the Turkish Petroleum Company, the consortium that eventually gained control over Iraq’s oil. Unlike the other members of that consortium, Gulbenkian did not own a major oil firm, but he was able to broker the agreements through which the big western companies divided up access to Middle Eastern reserves. He was also very skilled at writing himself into history in dramatic and fanciful ways.
He is especially associated with the 1928 Red Line Agreement, in which the main shareholders of the Turkish Petroleum Company agreed not to develop oil independently across much of the former Ottoman Empire without the others. This was a key moment in the cartelisation of world oil, in which the control of oil (including pricing) came under the sway of a handful of large firms. The Red Line Agreement linked Middle Eastern oil to these international oil companies who fully managed production, prices and market access on a global scale. Gulbenkian’s 5% share is thus a window into how the oil industry was built through networks of imperial diplomacy and corporate collusion at the time of the break-up of the Ottoman Empire.
It marked a rupture in the world economy because it revealed that the old structure of the international oil industry was no longer sustainable. For much of the 20th century, the global oil industry was controlled by just seven western companies, the so-called Seven Sisters. They controlled the extraction of oil in the Middle East and elsewhere, as well as its refining, pricing, transport and marketing. But by the early 1970s, this system was being challenged by producer governments, especially in the Middle East and Latin America, and by the growing assertiveness of Opec.
The dramatic increase in oil prices after 1973 was a sign of this shift in power towards oil-producing states.
The implications were enormous. Higher oil revenues generated vast financial surpluses in the Gulf and other producer states, and these surpluses were managed and invested through the international financial system. They were recycled through US and European banks, invested in dollar-denominated assets, placed in US Treasury securities, and channelled into equities, real estate and other financial markets. This helped strengthen the position of the dollar and deepened the role of American financial institutions in the world economy. In this sense, the oil shock played a major role in creating the global financial architecture that we live with today.
Saudi Arabia was especially important in this process. The consolidation of the US-Saudi relationship in the 1970s linked oil, finance and military power very tightly together. Oil continued to be priced in dollars, which reinforced global demand for the US currency. Gulf surpluses flowed into American markets, while the Gulf monarchies became major purchasers of US weapons and military services. The consolidation of oil as the world’s leading fossil fuel was therefore increasingly intertwined with the reproduction of American power.
My criticism of the “net zero” concept is that it makes the climate crisis appear as a technical or accounting challenge, rather than a systemic crisis rooted in the dynamics of capitalism itself. The term entered the mainstream climate policy vocabulary through the Paris Agreement in 2015. In its basic form it means balancing ongoing greenhouse gas emissions with equivalent removals of carbon from the atmosphere. That might involve forests, soils, carbon capture and storage, or technologies that directly remove carbon from the air.
The problem is that this shifts attention away from the urgent need to reduce fossil fuel production and consumption in absolute terms. It allows companies and governments to say they are moving towards “net zero” while still expanding oil and gas extraction, as long as those emissions are, in theory, offset somewhere else.
Many net zero strategies rely heavily on carbon capture and storage. This technology remains unproven at the scale required to deal with the volume of emissions produced by global fossil fuel use. Historically, carbon capture has often been used for oil recovery: captured carbon is injected into oilfields to extract more oil. So a technology presented as a climate solution actually becomes a means of extending fossil fuel production. Another important example of a false “solution” presented within the net zero framework is carbon offset projects. These turn forests and other ecological systems into financial assets that can be counted against emissions elsewhere. These projects have been linked to land dispossession and numerous scandals, including some across the African continent, and often rely on highly dubious accounting schemes.
– How oil turned the motors of capitalism: a history
– https://theconversation.com/how-oil-turned-the-motors-of-capitalism-a-history-286072
Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Timothy Krupnik, Director – CGIAR Scaling for Impact, CGIAR
The world’s food systems face real and urgent challenges. These include climate change, nutrition insecurity, food safety, and unequal access to markets. Research has produced practical solutions to each of these that could benefit hundreds of millions of people. Too few are moved into widespread use.
For years, the development sector has flattered itself with pilots.
A new tool works in a controlled pilot, a crop variety performs well in a field trial, and a digital advisory service shows promise in early testing. Evidence is written up, a case study or experiment is published, and then comes the familiar refrain: now we need to “take it to scale”.
That is the moment the real difficulty begins.
Solutions do not spread simply because they are good. They move, or fail to move, through systems where scientific supply and demand for innovative solutions are frequently misaligned. Policy environments are not ready, financing is difficult to mobilise, demand is weak, and markets are not designed to carry promising ideas beyond their pilot phase.
These are some of the challenges that have faced CGIAR, the world’s largest publicly funded research-for-development partnership focused on agriculture and food systems. But these challenges are not limited to CGIAR alone; they are common in research for development.
The world does not just need more breakthroughs. It needs more organisations that know how to turn scientific advances into adoption, investment and lasting use. Put plainly, it needs stronger efforts to move proven science into widespread use.
That sounds abstract. It is not. As director of CGIAR’s Scaling for Impact Program, which works with partners across Africa, Asia and Latin America to connect innovations with the systems and investments needed to scale them, I have seen this pattern myself. The evidence from that work consistently points to the same conclusion: scaling must be treated as a core part of the scientific process – built into research from the start, with systems thinking prioritised, not treated as a final phase.
Scaling is about asking different questions earlier in the research process – identifying the challenges that prevent innovations from moving into use, and charting strategies and actions to overcome them. Not just: does this solution work? But: who will deliver it, who will pay for it, what incentive do they have, what regulations apply, what evidence unlocks funding, and what has to change in the surrounding system for uptake to last beyond a project cycle?
Those questions are rarely asked early enough in the research process. Yet they determine whether a promising idea becomes a public good or another stranded pilot.
One example of what this looks like in practice is a “clearinghouse” created under the African Development Bank’s Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation programme, now integrated into the CGIAR Scaling for Impact programme. Its role is not to invent new technologies, but to make proven ones usable at scale: validating them, packaging them with complementary innovations, and linking them to large public investments and agricultural delivery systems.
That model is now positioned to connect agricultural innovations to a US$1.5 billion AfDB-backed portfolio in 2026, expected to benefit 3.4 million additional smallholder farmers.
In Nigeria, it helped connect heat-tolerant wheat varieties – developed to maintain yields as temperatures rise – to an AfDB-financed programme backed by US$134 million, contributing to a sharp expansion in wheat area over two years. The point is not only that the varieties worked. It is that someone built the bridge between science and investment.
Sometimes the real bottleneck is not the innovation itself. It is the absence of systematic scaling support for the organisations working to deliver it.
That is why building scaling capacity matters. In 2025, Enabel, Belgium’s development agency, drew on the Scaling for Impact Program’s scaling fund to apply a structured approach to two African innovation projects: Tap & Track Asset Management in Uganda and the Abalobi Monitor fisheries platform in the Western Indian Ocean.
The value of the support, through the Scaling for Impact Program’s scaling fund, was not simply more investment. It was a more disciplined way of thinking about scaling. Enabel found the approach “practical” and “doable” because it surfaced constraints the teams had not previously recognised as part of the innovation system. These included government roles, how systems need to connect, institutional gaps and coordination failures.
For Tap & Track, that process fed into a medium-term scaling plan and a long-term ambition to reach 30 utility companies across seven countries. What the support produced most clearly was stronger planning and strategy. And that is precisely the point: scaling capability is itself part of the infrastructure of impact.
These examples point to the same conclusion.
We spend a great deal of time celebrating innovation and far less time understanding how innovations can be moved into use. But the gap between a successful pilot and a durable outcome is where much of the important and scientifically exciting work sits. It is where solutions are translated into investment cases, fitted into public and private delivery systems, adapted to institutional realities, and made credible to the actors who have to carry them forward.
That is why scaling should not be treated as a final phase or a dissemination exercise. It should be treated as a discipline. A capability. A scientific endeavour in its own right.
Good science remains indispensable. But it is not self-propelling.
The science to address food systems challenges exists. What remains insufficient is the systematic capacity to move proven innovations into widespread use at scale. Building that capacity and treating scaling with the rigour it requires is among the most important tasks facing food and agricultural research today.
– The world has the science to transform food systems. The next frontier is scaling it
– https://theconversation.com/the-world-has-the-science-to-transform-food-systems-the-next-frontier-is-scaling-it-282881
Source: APO – Report:
ER Group (https://ERGroup.mu/) announces the launch of its Sustainable Finance Framework (SFF), a structure that anchors its financing strategy around formalised, measurable and independently verified sustainability commitments. Aligned with international standards set by the International Capital Market Association (ICMA) and the Loan Market Association (LMA) and validated by a Second Party Opinion from Moody’s Ratings, a world-leading credit rating agency, the Framework positions ER Group among the most advanced corporate issuers in the region in sustainable finance.
As one of Mauritius’s leading listed groups and a member of SEMSI, the Stock Exchange of Mauritius Sustainability Index, ER Group employs nearly 13,000 people and operates across 17 territories. The adoption of this Framework marks a milestone in the implementation of the Group’s Sustainability Strategy 2025–2035.
Building on the successful green bond issued by EnVolt in 2023, ER Group takes a new step with a policy that applies across all its activities: common eligibility criteria for every business, dedicated governance at Board level, and annual reporting on the results achieved. The scope covers more than 90% of the Group’s revenues.
What the SFF enables in practice
The framework rests on two complementary financing mechanisms. The first, the Use-of-Proceeds, reserves the funds raised for the financing of clearly identified impact projects: renewable energy, green-certified buildings, clean mobility, sustainable water management, circular economy initiatives and biodiversity restoration. It also covers projects with a social dimension: job creation and support for SMEs, gender equality and women’s empowerment, and the preservation of cultural heritage.
The second, the Sustainability-Linked Bond (SLB), links the financial terms of future issuances to the achievement of measurable sustainability targets that are independently audited. Under the SLB, ER Group has set three measurable group-wide targets to be achieved by 2031: increasing female representation in management positions to 40%, reaching 10% electric vehicles in sales across Axess, Mauritius’ leading car dealership and certifying 50% of its commercial rental portfolio under internationally recognised green building standards. These targets will apply to every future issuance carried out under this mechanism.
Governance of the SFF is entrusted to the Sustainability and Inclusiveness Committee (SIC), sub-committee of the Board of Directors, responsible for validating eligible projects, monitoring targets and approving Framework-related spending across the Group. The framework also draws on the Group’s 2025-2035 Climate & Biodiversity Strategy, developed with Carbone 4, and aligned with international recommendations on the management of climate and nature-related risks.
Gilbert Espitalier-Noël, Group CEO of ER Group: “Every investment decision at ER Group is guided by the same principle: deploying capital where it creates long-term value, with discipline and in support of projects that strengthen both the resilience of the Group and the development of Mauritius as well as the countries where we operate. The Sustainable Finance Framework gives us a common reference point to apply this discipline to projects with environmental and social impact, and to report on them transparently.”
The SFF is intended to serve as the reference point for all future bond issuances and structured financing of the Group and reflects ER Group’s ambition to make sustainable finance a structural driver of its growth strategy.
Amaury Koenig, Chief Strategy & Investment Executive of ER Group: “The Sustainable Finance Framework provides our investors and financial partners with a common reference point, aligned with international standards, for identifying, structuring and monitoring eligible projects across our seven business segments. With several issuances planned over the coming months, this framework enables us to mobilise capital on conditions aligned with the nature of our environmental and social commitments.”
International standards, independent validation
To validate its framework, ER Group has obtained a Second Party Opinion from Moody’s Ratings, one of the major global credit rating agencies, whose opinion serves as a reference for institutional investors worldwide. This independent validation confirms both the rigour of the framework and the ambition of its targets. It places ER Group in a very select group of African corporate issuers to benefit from such international recognition for their sustainability commitments.
MCB Capital Markets supported ER Group in structuring and drafting the SFF, in line with the Green Bond Principles, Social Bond Principles and Sustainability Bond Guidelines of the ICMA for bonds, as well as the equivalent LMA principles for loans.
Anish Goorah, Senior Vice President – MCB Capital Markets: “This collaboration reflects the ability of MCB Capital Markets to support its clients across the full spectrum of sustainable finance, from the development of Sustainable Frameworks to the structuring and issuance of innovative instruments. By combining technical expertise with a thorough understanding of markets and investors, MCB Capital Markets continues to play a leading role in the development of African capital markets.”
For the development of the Framework, ER Group also benefited from the technical support of FSD Africa, a financial markets development agency based in Nairobi and funded by the UK Government.
Dr Evans Osano, Chief Financial Markets Officer, FSD Africa: “We commend ER Group’s leadership in aligning its capital-raising strategy with measurable sustainability outcomes. The dual-tranche structure, combining Use-of-Proceeds financing and a Sustainability-Linked Bond, demonstrates how complementary sustainable finance instruments can mobilise local-currency capital for climate resilience while setting an important precedent for corporate issuers across Africa. FSD Africa is honoured to have supported ER Group throughout the development of the Sustainable Finance Framework and the Second Party Opinion process, in line with our commitment to deepening sustainable finance markets across the region.”
The first applications across the Group
The SFF builds on the experience gained in 2023 with the green bond issued by EnVolt, a subsidiary of the Group’s Technology & Energy segment. What was then a pilot transaction is becoming a structured policy, applicable across all the Group’s segments.
It opens the way to structured financing for projects already under way across several of the Group’s businesses: solar capacity expansion with Ecoasis (Technology & Energy segment), green-certified real estate developments (Real Estate segment), the rollout of electric mobility solutions with Axess (Commerce & Manufacturing segment), as well as initiatives on water efficiency, circular economy practices and ecosystem restoration. These projects form the first pool of investments eligible under the framework.
Sophie Desvaux de Marigny, Chief Sustainability Executive of ER Group: “This framework changes the way our teams approach every project. The question is no longer solely whether an investment is profitable, but also how it concretely contributes to the transition of Mauritius in terms of energy, biodiversity and inclusion. For an island as exposed to climate risks as Mauritius, this level of rigour is not a luxury.”
With this framework, ER Group becomes one of the few corporate issuers in sub-Saharan Africa to have put in place a sustainable finance structure validated by Moody’s and applicable across all its activities. A strong signal for the markets, and a concrete commitment to Mauritius.
– on behalf of ER Group.
For more information, please contact:
Melisa Virassamy
Communication Officer
E. communication@ergroup.mu
T. +230 490 4526
About:
A major player in the Mauritian economy and listed on the Stock Exchange, ER Group was born from the strategic merger of the ENL and Rogers groups. With more than 200 years of history for ENL and 125 years for Rogers, these two pillars of the Mauritian economy have shaped the country’s economic and social development over the long term. In 2025, they came together under a new identity – ER Group – which honours their shared heritage while setting out future ambitions, now carried with one voice.
Today, ER brings together nearly 13,000 employees and operates across 17 territories around the world. Drawing on a strong portfolio of recognised brands that lead in their fields, ER Group operates across 7 strategic segments: Agribusiness, Real Estate, Hospitality & Travel, Logistics, Finance, Commerce & Manufacturing, and Technology & Energy.
Guided by its purpose “Ignite today for a better tomorrow”, the Group is driven by its ambition to act responsibly, combining strengths, widening its horizons and playing an active part in shaping the future of a sustainable Mauritius.
.
Source: APO – Report:
.
The African Development Bank (www.AfDB.org), in partnership with the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Welfare in the Gambia and with financing from the Climate Investment Funds (CIF) (https://apo-opa.co/3QPAkcL), has released a report (https://apo-opa.co/4vz4jot) recognising women as equal partners in the nation’s energy transition
Women as Key Partners: A Gender-Transformative Renewable Energy Strategy and Action Plan for The Gambia, was released earlier this month. The report sets out a blueprint for ensuring that women are recognised and empowered as equal partners in The Gambia’s energy transition, and bridges the gap between progressive national frameworks and their implementation on the ground.
The findings show that energy poverty in The Gambia weighs heavily on women, particularly in rural areas. Approximately 90 percent of households still rely on biomass – firewood and charcoal- for cooking, while only 1.7 percent of the population has access to clean cooking fuels and technologies. Electricity access also remains uneven: around 85 percent in urban areas, compared to 35-40 percent in rural areas. Women remain largely absent from the sector that shapes these realities, holding only about one percent of staff positions at the National Water and Electricity Company (NAWEC).
The study draws on a survey of 279 respondents (67 percent of whom were women), focus group discussions, key informant interviews, and community radio dialogues across all seven regions of the country.
The plan is built around five priority areas – strengthening policy and governance; expanding capacity building through scholarships, vocational training and mentorship for women in renewable energy; improving access to finance; deepening community engagement, and scaling partnerships, including aligning with regional best practices and revitalising institutions such as the Gambia Renewable Energy Centre (https://apo-opa.co/4wapFZo) as a hub for women’s skills and innovation.
The report identifies the main barriers to women’s participation in renewable energy: limited access to finance, training, land and markets, alongside cultural norms, mobility restrictions, and low representation in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education. It also documents women already leading change in the sector, from solar installation cooperatives to clean cookstove and briquette production enterprises.
The Plan is designed for implementation between 2026 and 2030, led by the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Welfare in collaboration with the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy and a range of national and international partners.
Nathalie Gisabo Gahunga, Manager of Gender and Women’s Empowerment at the African Development Bank said: “Our goal is to see women and girls participating in the energy transition process at all levels in equal position as men. In The Gambia, we are seeing promising steps in renewable energy—but women’s participation is still limited.”
She added: “That means providing training, mentorship, and gender-responsive policies, while designing technologies, like clean cooking and solar tools, that truly serve women’s needs.”
Deputy Permanent Secretary at the Minister of Gender, Children and Social Welfare, Saikou JC Trawally, in the Validation Workshop shared his views on the report. “This study is milestone in our country’s journey towards a sustainable and environmentally friendly energy future.” He further urged stakeholders, the government, private sector, civil society and development partners to actively engage in shaping a “robust renewable energy framework that is inclusive, practical, and responsive to the Gambia’s unique needs”
Foday Sanyang, from the Ministry of Petroleum, underscored government’s commitment to mainstreaming gender in all energy projects saying that renewable energy generation is an attractive option to meet growing demand, “but we must recognize the differentiated needs of men and women,” Sanyang said.
The full report is available in English (https://apo-opa.co/4vz4jot) and French (https://apo-opa.co/4v1evVF) on the African Development Bank’s website.
– on behalf of African Development Bank Group (AfDB).
Media contact:
Raissa Girondin
Communication and External Relations Department
email: media@afdb.org
Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Rod Crompton, Visiting Adjunct Professor, African Energy Leadership Centre, Wits Business School, University of the Witwatersrand
South Africa is moving away from coal-fired electricity, which currently supplies 74% of the country’s power, to wind and solar energy. But as the country’s experience shows, the transition is complex and is being slowed down.
This is because renewable energy works very differently from coal. It needs a different kind of electricity system and new ways of planning and managing the grid.
The transition also requires major changes at the state-owned electricity utility, Eskom, which has long dominated South Africa’s power sector. It involves transforming an electricity system built around a few large coal-fired power stations into one that can absorb power from many renewable energy producers while keeping electricity reliable, affordable and accessible.
I’ve been working in the field of energy and economic regulation in South Africa for 40 years. I sat on the Eskom board for six years until I resigned in 2024 and I was involved in drafting key energy policies.
Based on my experience, I argue that there are five key factors slowing down the energy transition:
Eskom’s dominance over the country’s electricity system
inconsistent and politically driven government electricity planning, favouring certain technologies and restricting private energy providers
a grid that has not been designed to keep up with technological change
crumbling municipal electricity distribution networks and high levels of local government debt to Eskom
inability of rooftop solar to sell surplus power into the grid.
These five problems are closely linked to slow-moving institutions, outdated ways of thinking, poor management and corruption. Many countries face similar challenges, but South Africa is a politically fractured society, with low trust in government, weak education systems and high rates of crime. All this shows in the slow pace of the energy transition.
The slow pace comes at a cost. Communities living near coal-fired power stations continue to face health risks. And South African exports could become less competitive as the European Union introduces border taxes on products produced with coal-fired electricity. The country’s coal-fired power stations continue to produce high levels of greenhouse gas emissions that drive climate change.
I have ranked the factors slowing the transition from most to least influential. Others may rank them differently.
The first bottleneck is Eskom: state-owned and slow to respond to change. It controls electricity generation, transmission and distribution. Because it controls so much of the system, Eskom has had the power to influence who can connect to the grid and how quickly new competitors can enter the market.
Read more: South Africa’s power utility Eskom tried to block a gold mine from going solar – but lost in court
Eskom is also struggling financially. As more households and businesses generate their own cheaper solar power, its sales have declined. It has tried to slow down the energy transition by challenging licences for electricity traders and by resisting plans to make the national transmission grid fully independent.
It has also backed expensive coal projects. In 2024, Eskom decided to extend the lives of the Camden, Grootvlei and Hendrina coal-fired power stations until 2030 at a cost of about R90 billion (about US$5.5 billion). That money could instead have gone towards new renewable energy projects that would have lasted much longer.
The second bottleneck is the government’s electricity plans (known as Integrated Resource Plans). They are supposed to set out the cheapest ways of providing the country with the electricity it needs. But instead, the government uses them to pick technologies that it prefers, like nuclear and gas, over cheaper renewable energies.
The country passed law setting up a wholesale electricity market, but in contradiction, the government intervenes in the market using the Integrated Resource Plans to limit the operation of market forces.
Read more: South Africa’s plan to move away from coal: 8 steps to make it succeed
The third bottleneck is the electricity grid itself. There are two problems here. The first is that South Africa’s grid was built decades ago to carry electricity from coal-fired power stations in the eastern province of Mpumalanga to the country’s main cities and industries. But the best wind and solar resources are mostly in the west of the country. So the grid now needs to become a two-way street, able to move electricity from west to east as well.
The National Transmission Company of South Africa (a wholly owned subsidiary company of Eskom) plans to build 14,500km of new transmission lines over the next decade to help this happen. Until then, some renewable energy projects have to cut back how much electricity they produce because the grid cannot carry it. Coal-fired power stations continue to fill the gap. Years of poor planning and Eskom’s financial problems have made this bottleneck worse.
The second problem is that managing a national grid with thousands of renewable energy providers is more complex than one based on a few coal plants. To keep the system stable, there have to be services in place to respond to sudden changes in power and to restart the grid after a blackout.
Wind and solar need a suite of such services. South Africa is still working out how to organise, fund and allocate responsibility for these services.
Read more: South Africa finally has a masterplan for a renewable energy industry: here’s what it says
The fourth bottleneck is crumbling municipal electricity distribution networks which create a serious risk to the electricity system. Local governments also owe over R100 billion (about US$6 billion) to Eskom, and this debt is rising fast.
Rising non-payment is worsening the problem, making it harder to fund and maintain electricity services. With weak public finances, government support is limited. Eskom has received R464 billion (US$28 billion) in bailouts. But some of these have gone towards covering losses linked to non-payment, crime and corruption.
Read more: South Africa’s electricity supply: what’s tripping the switch
The fifth bottleneck is is that renewable energy from rooftop solar systems is being wasted. Over the past five years, solar generation has shot up to about 8%-10% of total generation, powering about 3 million to 4 million households. Excess electricity generated is not used or sold back into the grid because municipalities and Eskom make it difficult and costly to do that.
When people disconnect from the grid, it reduces Eskom’s revenue and raises costs for those who remain. Over time, a weaker grid also makes it harder for large renewable projects to deliver power where it is needed.
To address the electricity crisis, the Presidency has set up a National Energy Crisis Committee. This is a collaborative effort by relevant national government departments, Eskom, and representatives from the private sector.
It has made progress but still faces many problems.
There is no magic solution for all these challenges. However, the focus of attention needs to be the establishment of a fully independent National Transmission Company. This will allow private capital to invest in removing the bottlenecks from the grid, and limit some of Eskom’s market power.
– South Africa’s move to renewable power is complex, but clearing 5 bottlenecks would speed it up
– https://theconversation.com/south-africas-move-to-renewable-power-is-complex-but-clearing-5-bottlenecks-would-speed-it-up-286002
Source: Government of Qatar
Doha | June 30, 2026
HE Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani met on Tuesday with HE European Union Special Representative for the Gulf region Luigi Di Maio, who is visiting Qatar.
During the meeting, they discussed cooperation relations between the State of Qatar and the EU and ways to support and strengthen them. They also explored the latest regional developments, particularly the diplomatic efforts to enhance security and stability in the region following the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between the United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Iran, in addition to a number of topics of common concern.
Source: Government of South Africa
Several people arrested for looting and attempted looting
The South African Police Service (SAPS) has, since the early hours of this morning, arrested several individuals in connection with incidents of looting and attempted looting reported in various parts of the country, as law enforcement continues to monitor the planned marches taking place nationwide today.
According to the police, policing operations have been effective thus far, with demonstrations remaining largely peaceful across the country. Police have, however, responded to isolated incidents of looting and attempted looting.
“Police remain on high alert, with heightened deployments in place to ensure public safety, protect businesses and critical infrastructure and maintaining law and order.
“Members deployed across the country have been instructed to act swiftly and decisively against anyone who engages in criminal activities, including looting, attempted looting, public violence, malicious damage to property, intimidation or any other unlawful conduct.
“We urge citizens to exercise their constitutional rights responsibly and to ensure that demonstrations remain peaceful and lawful.
“Those who choose to exploit the marches to commit criminal acts will face the full might of the law. Police will continue to identify, arrest, and prosecute all those responsible for criminal conduct,” Acting Police Minister Firoz Cachalia said.
On Monday evening, the National Joint Operational and Intelligence Structures (Natjoints) chairperson, Lieutenant General Tebello Mosikili, warned that where criminality presents itself, law enforcement agencies would respond swiftly, proportionately and decisively within the confines of the law.
Mosikili said specialised operational units were ready to respond at a moment’s notice.
Mosikili warned those who intend to break the law that “they should not test the resolve of the State”.
“To those who intend to demonstrate peacefully, we assure you that your constitutional rights will be protected. To every South African: be confident that your safety remains our highest priority,” Mosikili said.
She said contingency plans had been tested and law enforcement was ready, adding that the Air Wing would provide aerial surveillance and operational support wherever required.
“There is a clear distinction between exercising democratic rights and committing criminal offences. Anyone who crosses that line must expect the full and immediate consequences of the law,” she said.
Mosikili said no dangerous weapons including firearms, knives and traditional weapons will be allowed in terms of Section 17 of the Constitution.
“The State will act decisively against any person who seeks to exploit demonstrations to commit acts of lawlessness,” she said. – SAnews.gov.za
Edwin
Source: APO – Report:
By Laila Bastati, Chief Commercial Officer, APO Group (https://APO-opa.com/).
I have yet to meet a CEO who missed a revenue target and blamed a 3% decrease in share of voice.
And yet communication is almost always somewhere in the room when revenue disappoints. Just never on the list.
Because the most expensive communication failures don’t appear in communications dashboards.
They appear later. In a regulatory process that takes twice as long as expected. In a partner who goes quiet after an announcement. In a market that understood the decision perfectly and still didn’t move. In a deal that stalled for reasons nobody could articulate cleanly.
You know the room I mean. Sales blames the market. Finance blames the timing. Operations blames the execution. Everyone has a theory. Nobody calls the communications director.
I’ve watched this happen across more markets than I can count. And the pattern is consistent enough that I’m going to say something that will make some of my peers uncomfortable.
Most of the time, communication shaped the outcome. Not the press releases. Not the coverage. The stuff that never got commissioned because nobody knew how to measure it. The regulatory relationship that wasn’t built before it was needed. The stakeholder ground that was never prepared before the announcement landed. The trust that was never established before the market was asked to move.
Kenya’s Finance Bill didn’t fail because people didn’t know about it. Everyone knew. It failed because explanation never travelled as far as interpretation. Nigeria’s fuel subsidy removal wasn’t a visibility problem. It was a confidence problem. People understood what was happening. They didn’t trust that the consequences had been thought through on their behalf. And large infrastructure stories, including the Dangote Refinery, do not stall because of lack of attention. They stall when competing interpretations fill the space that should have been occupied by trust.
Awareness is rarely the scarce resource. Confidence is.
Walmart learned this in South Africa. Clean acquisition. No competition concerns. Years in court anyway, fighting unions and government ministries and community groups who felt the company had arrived without earning its place. The friction wasn’t about the deal. It was about everything that hadn’t been done before the deal was announced. The communications metrics, had anyone been tracking them, would have looked fine. The business felt the cost for years.
This is what we see at APO Group, working across all 54 African markets simultaneously. The companies that move fastest are never the ones generating the most coverage. They’re the ones where communication was already doing its real work before anyone in the commercial team needed it to. Trust already built. Regulators already informed. Executives already visible in the right places. Narrative already set. The groundwork already there.
That work is rarely reactive. It’s a different brief. Earlier. Broader. Closer to where decisions actually get made: preparing spokespeople to be credible under scrutiny, ensuring leadership voices are present in the media environments that will shape opinion, and building regulator and stakeholder relationships long before they are required in moments of pressure.
Because here’s what nobody says out loud when the post-mortem starts. Revenue misses get examined in forensic detail. Pricing. Product. Timing. Execution.
Communication is not missing from the analysis.
It is miscategorised as everything else.
– on behalf of APO Group Insights.
Media Contact:
marie@apo-opa.com
About APO Group:
Founded in 2007 by Nicolas Pompigne-Mognard, APO Group is the communications consultancy built for performance – combining strategic advisory, on-the-ground execution, and guaranteed visibility across all 54 African markets. Its owned newswire, Africa Newsroom, secures placement on 250+ Africa-focused news sites, connecting organisations directly with 450,000+ journalists, analysts, investors, and policymakers worldwide.
Recognised internationally for communications excellence including SABRE, Davos Communications, and World Business Outlook distinctions, APO Group partners with global and African organisations for whom the continent is a strategic priority. Clients include the African Development Bank Group, Africa CDC, Afreximbank, NFL, Nestlé, Emirates, Canon, Western Union, GITEX Global, and Cassava Technologies.
.
Source: APO – Report:
Africa CDC (http://www.AfricaCDC.org) commends the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, clinical investigators, and development partners for the launch of clinical trials evaluating candidate therapeutics for Bundibugyo Ebola virus disease in Bunia this week. This marks an important milestone in the response, demonstrating the country’s commitment to generating the evidence needed to improve clinical care while contributing to the development of medical countermeasures for this rare Ebola virus. However, a funding gap remains for the full implementation of the trials. Africa CDC has therefore called on governments, multilateral development banks, philanthropic organizations, the private sector, and global partners to provide US$16million within days to close a funding gap that threatens clinical trials against the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, for which there is no licensed vaccine or therapy.
The ongoing Bundibugyo outbreak is unlike recent Ebola epidemics. The absence of any licensed vaccine or therapeutic for this strain makes it aa scientifically and operationally challenging outbreak Every day without sufficient financing allows the virus to spread further, increases the humanitarian burden, and raises the risk of regional and international transmission.
Working with WHO, Africa CDC, ANRS, Oxford University, IAVI, CEPI, Gilead Sciences and other partners, Africa has assembled one of the fastest scientific mobilizations ever mounted against a newly emerging Ebola strain. The portfolio includes the first post-exposure prophylaxis trial, using obeldesivir to prevent infection among exposed contacts; adaptive randomized treatment trials evaluating remdesivir, MBP134, to reduce mortality among infected patients; cross-protection vaccine studies; and accelerated development and manufacturing of next-generation Bundibugyo-specific vaccines.
Financing for the vaccine trials is largely in place. The gap is in therapeutics. Of the US$26 million needed to run the therapeutics trials, US$10 million has been secured leaving a shortfall of US$18 million. This comprises US$16 million to continue and complete the post-exposure prophylaxis study among exposed contacts and $2-3 million to ensure sufficient contract tracing to enable the trial.
“We have the science. We now need the funding to use it. Clinical trials must start this week, and every day of delay costs lives we could save,” said Dr Jean Kaseya, Director General of Africa CDC.
This is an investment in proving that Africa and the global community can rapidly develop, test, and deploy lifesaving countermeasures against emerging pathogens while building preparedness for future pandemics.
The window to act before the outbreak grows larger is open today. The time to invest is now.
– on behalf of Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC).
Media Contact:
Saran Koly
Director of Communications and Spokesperson, Africa CDC
+251 98 434 6488
kolys@africacdc.org
Follow Africa CDC on:
LinkedIn: https://apo-opa.co/4fca99y
X: https://apo-opa.co/3Tb0d7F
Facebook: https://apo-opa.co/4eLJj8l
YouTube: https://apo-opa.co/4voJk7f
About Africa CDC:
The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention is the public health agency of the African Union. As an autonomous institution, Africa CDC supports AU Member States to strengthen health systems, improve disease surveillance, and enhance emergency preparedness and response. For more information, visit: http://www.AfricaCDC.org
.
