The Rep

Banyana Banyana’s victory brings much-needed relief

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Isituation. t’s what everybody’in And that s exactly SA is talking what this about country and it’s needs great right news now for a change, notwithsta­nding Cyril Ramaphosa’s recent seemingly refreshing announceme­nt on an otherwise depressing energy – good news.

We have not had a lot of it these past few weeks and months. It’s been mass murders and deaths of young people and it’s had South Africans in sheer shock. Not to mention Eskom’s annoying and debilitati­ng load-shedding.

Meanwhile, on the local front, the Enoch Mgijima Local Municipali­ty electricit­y crisis has shown no signs of improving.

One can go on and on, from food and fuel prices soaring to new heights, along with rising inflation and interest rates. It’s all been bad.

It was also a disappoint­ing outing for our track and field stars as all 40 SA athletes who took part in the World Athletics Championsh­ips in the So US when from July our football 15 to 24 girls came were back crowned empty-handed.’ Women s Africa Cup of Nations champions on Saturday, it came at the perfect time to revive and lift our spirits again.

That everybody is gleefully sharing in the celebratio­ns is itself a big achievemen­t for a country that is very divided, especially along racial lines. It’s also wonderful that the media is making a huge deal out of the young women’s achievemen­ts and that the government appears to be game.

Speaking of government, President Ramaphosa ’ s address to the nation on the energy crisis which, at some point, had Eskom implement stage 6 load-shedding, appears to have received rave reviews.

The part of the president’s speech that seemed to receive wider approval was the mention of a revival of the renewable energy procuremen­t programme.

“We have started to diversify generation by allowing parties other than Eskom to generate electricit­y,” he said.

He also touched on cutting red tape when it came to issues of licencing and announced, for example, that there would be a change of the regulation­s to allow municipali­ties to procure power independen­tly.

He said surplus capacity would be bought from existing independen­t power producers and Eskom would now also purchase additional energy from existing private generators such as mines, paper mills, shopping centres and other private entities that had surplus power.

In closing, Ramaphosa said: “If we work together, if we hold each other to account, if we meet our deadlines and fulfil our commitment­s, we will end the energy crisis and create the conditions for growth and job creation.” This is welcome, positive news indeed.

Back to the local scene, in spite of the electricit­y problems plaguing the local municipali­ty, the recent Chris Hani Economic Developmen­t and Investment­s Summit is said to have scored deals of nearly R2bn to be injected into the Chris Hani district. Even more welcome good news.

The Rep sends many congratula­tions to Banyana Banyana.

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