Day: June 28, 2022

We, the Leaders of the Group of Seven (G7), met in Elmau, Germany, on 26-28 June 2022, were joined by the Leaders of Argentina, India, Indonesia, Senegal and South Africa, as well as Ukraine.

At a time when the world is threatened by division and shocks, we, the G7, stand united. We underscore our resolve to, together with partners, jointly defend universal human rights and democratic values, the rules-based multilateral order, and the resilience of our democratic societies. In doing so, we will address the key challenges of our time:

• We reemphasise our condemnation of Russia’s illegal and unjustifiable war of aggression against Ukraine. We will stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes, providing the needed financial, humanitarian, military, and diplomatic support in its courageous defence of its sovereignty and territorial integrity. We are ready to reach arrangements together with interested countries and institutions and Ukraine on sustained security commitments to help Ukraine defend itself and to secure its free and democratic future.

• Our financial support in 2022 amounts to more than USD 2.8 billion in humanitarian aid, and we are ready to grant, or have pledged and provided USD 29.5 billion in budget aid. We are strongly committed to supporting Ukranian reconstruction through an international reconstruction conference and plan, drawn up and implemented by Ukraine in close coordination with international partners.

• We will continue to impose severe and enduring costs on Russia to help bring an end to this war. Beyond its direct implications, Russia’s aggression is impeding the global recovery and dramatically worsening energy security and access to food globally. To this end, we remain steadfast in our commitment to our unprecedented coordination on sanctions for as long as necessary, acting in unison at every stage, and will reduce Russia’s revenues, including from gold.

• We will help to stabilise and transform the global economy while tackling rising costs of living for our citizens. We will coordinate on our economic security, strengthen the resilience of supply chains and secure a level-playing field.

• We will take immediate action to secure energy supply and reduce price surges driven by extraordinary market conditions, including by exploring additional measures such as price caps. We reaffirm our commitment to phase out our dependency on Russian energy, without compromising on our climate and environmental goals.

• With our partners, we have made significant progress towards the target of USD 100 billion for the most vulnerable, building on the 2021 Special Drawing Rights allocation. To protect people from hunger and malnutrition, and in response to Russia’s weaponisation of grain, we will increase global food and nutrition security through the Global Alliance on Food Security. We will provide an additional USD 4.5 billion to this end, stand by our commitments to keep our food and agricultural markets open and step up efforts to help Ukraine produce and export.

• We endorse the goals of an open and cooperative international Climate Club, and will work with partners towards establishing it by the end of 2022. To drive urgent, ambitious, and inclusive action to align ourselves with 1.5°C pathways and to accelerate implementation of the Paris Agreement, we commit to a highly decarbonised road sector by 2030, a fully or predominantly decarbonised power sector by 2035, and prioritising concrete and timely steps towards the goal of accelerating phase-out of domestic unabated coal power.

• Through our Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment, we aim to mobilise USD 600 billion over the next five years to narrow the global investment gap. We will step up our cooperation globally, including through working towards new Just Energy Transition Partnerships with Indonesia, India, Senegal and Vietnam, building on our existing partnership with South Africa.

• To overcome the current COVID-19 pandemic, we will build on our provision of over 1.175 billion vaccine doses since we last met. We will also prevent, prepare, and respond to future pandemics and health challenges including through the G7 Pact for Pandemic Readiness.

• Guided by the conviction that democratic values make us stronger in tackling global challenges, we will cooperate with civil society and our partners beyond the G7 to strengthen the resilience of our societies, promote human rights online and offline, address disinformation, and achieve gender equality.

With these joint commitments and actions taken today, and by working together with partners, we will make progress towards an equitable world.

Source: European Council of the European Union

Eskom says stage 6 load shedding will be implemented from 4pm to 10pm tonight due to “unlawful industrial action” by some of its personnel at its power stations.

The power utility said the stages of load shedding for Tuesday and Wednesday will be as follows:

• Stage 6 this evening will be followed by stage 4 load shedding between 10pm and midnight.

• From midnight until 5am on Wednesday morning, Eskom will implement stage two load shedding.

• From 5am on Wednesday, stage 4 will return until 4pm.

• From 4pm, the power utility will once again implement stage six load shedding until 10pm on Wednesday.

“This is due to the unlawful and unprotected labour action, which has caused widespread disruption to Eskom’s power plants. This has compelled Eskom to continue taking precautionary measures to conserve generation capacity and safeguard plants from damage.

“Eskom continues to closely monitor the system, adjust and communicate any changes as may be necessary. We appeal to all South Africans to help limit the impact of the shortages by continuing to reduce the usage of electricity and to switch off all non-essential items,” the power utility said.

Eskom said at least three generation units, which were part of a cohort of 10 which broke down overnight, have been brought back online.

“This, however, is still insufficient to stave off the implementation of Stage six load shedding for this evening and tomorrow evening. We currently have 3 218MW [of power] on planned maintenance, while another 17 621MW of capacity is unavailable due to breakdowns.

“We would like to remind the public that load shedding is implemented only as a last resort to protect the national grid. We therefore urge all South Africans to continue using electricity sparingly especially during these uncertain times on the power system,” Eskom said.

Source: South African Government News Agency

PARKTOWN - Within a period of seven days (17 to 23 June 2022), members of Rapid Response Services (RRS) in Gauteng arrested 176 suspects and recovered 58 stolen motor vehicles and nine unlicensed firearms across the province.

The Rapid Response Services component comprises of units such as Flying Squad, K9 Unit and Gauteng Highway Patrol.

The 176 suspects arrested during various crime prevention operations are facing charges that include among others: murder; assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm; rape; theft; tampering with essential infrastructure; possession of drugs, stolen property and unlicensed firearms.

The suspects are appearing before the various local Magistrates' courts across the province.

Source: South African Police Service

Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter says further challenges in generation capacity mean that there is a strong possibility that the country will have to move into stage 6 load shedding from tonight.

The power utility suffered breakdowns of 10 generating units overnight, resulting in the loss of more than 6 000MW of power. By Tuesday morning, only 1 300MW of power has been returned to the grid.

Furthermore, the power utility is already facing a deficit of some 1 400MW of power ahead of the evening peak, despite implementing stage 4 load shedding since Friday.

De Ruyter said at least 14 204MW of power is currently unavailable due to breakdowns, with an additional 3 218MW also offline due to planned maintenance.

“We have associated losses mainly due to the unavailability of coal and labour, which leads us to an addition 3661MW of capacity that is not available. This situation creates substantial risk. We currently have plans to return some 3 400MW to service by 5pm this afternoon.

“If we get all of that back – and that is subject to considerable risk, given the nature of the ongoing unlawful industrial action that we are experiencing – there is a possibility that we may avert to stage six [load shedding]. But the risk is there,” he said on Tuesday.

De Ruyter said the power utility has also been relying heavily on its reserves.

“We have been consuming considerable diesel over the past number of days. We are burning about two million litres of diesel per day at both Ankerlig as well as Gourikwa [open cycle gas turbines]. For the month of June to date, we have already consumed 85 million litres of diesel.

“We need to protect both our dams and our diesel reserves in order to maintain that vital reserves capacity in the event of further unit outages,” he said.

Industrial action

The chief executive said the ongoing strike at Eskom is further crippling its ability to ensure that power stations are manned and electricity is supplied.

“At Arnot [power station], we have no bargaining unit employees available and we are running with our managerial staff. At Camden similarly, our control rooms are manned by managerial staff. There has been a blocking of the access road by the dumping of coal… onto the access road. At Duvha, we have no controllers on site. At Hendrina, only 20% of workers are on site.

“We have seen peaceful protest at Kendal and Komati, where only one unit is operating. At Kriel, we have seen peaceful protesting but we have seen no resources for ash and dust handling and no plant operators. At Lethabo, we have seen pretty severe incidents of intimidation… 70 maintenance staff are absent,” De Ruyter said.

At least seven other power stations have experienced minimal to no strike related incidents.

De Ruyter said Eskom is diverting staff to keep essential services running but this has left the power utility unable to perform maintenance on plants.

“If the strike is resolved, we will have a significant backlog in maintenance, which will further create a prolonged risk of load shedding.

“I personally engaged with union leadership [on Monday]. We have had a productive discussion. We are in the process of preparing for another meeting… and if we are able to resolve the matter, then it will be a question of a number of shifts before we have all our people back on site and restoring the situation,” he said.

Source: South African Government News Agency