Eskom’s Energy Availability Factor (EAF), the percentage of time its plants are available to generate electricity, tells a sobering story. From a healthy 87.5% in 2006/07, availability dropped steadily over the following decade and a half, bottoming out at a concerning 54.56% in 2023/24, a period marked by the 329 days of loadshedding in South Africa and ageing infrastructure under severe strain.But the tide appears to be turning. In 2024/25, Eskom’s EAF recovered to 60.60%, underpinne…

Johannesburg's proposed tariff increases for 2026/27, 12.5% for water and 8.6% for electricity, are straining residents' ability to afford basic services, the city acknowledges in its draft Integrated Development Plan (IDP).Tariffs fund service delivery and infrastructure, but because the city buys water from Rand Water and electricity from Eskom, which have proposed their own tariff increases of 11% and 8.6% respectively, the increases are largely passed on to consumers. The city warn…

The majority of divorces in South Africa are initiated by women. Data from Statistics South Africa show that 52% of divorces in Limpopo in 2024 were initiated by the wife. This increases to 60% wife-initiated divorces in the Western Cape. Divorce rates peak in midlife, particularly between the ages of 35 and 49, the highest number of divorces in the 40-44 age group. While women tend to get divorced younger, outnumbering the male divorcees between the 18-44 categories, men dominate filings i…

In 1994, when South Africa became a democracy, the South African Revenue Service (SARS) collected R113.8-billion in taxes. When adjusted for inflation, this would have been equivalent to about R624.3-billion in 2025.31 years later, in the 2025/26 financial year, SARS broke records by bringing in R2-trillion in tax revenue.Collection over the last three decades has been far from smooth. Large increases were seen in the early 2000s as a commodity boom (minerals, metals) boosted corporate income ta…

If you’ve ever sent money overseas, you’ve used a SWIFT code. That unique identifier ensures money reaches the correct bank and account internationally.SWIFT, the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, was founded in 1973. It doesn’t actually transfer money; instead, it sends secure messages instructing banks to move funds.Transfers once took one to five business days, but 90% now reach the recipient bank within an hour, according to SWIFT’s 2024 annual review. However, SWI…

City Power launched a solar micro-grid pilot during the 2023/24 financial year to electrify five informal settlements across Johannesburg, Amarasta, Shalazile Camp, View Informal Settlement, Vukani and Vlakfontein, targeting 2,356 households where conventional grid connection is unfeasible. The initiative aimed to curb dangerous illegal connections that cause fires, electrocutions and infrastructure damage.Johannesburg has over 300 informal settlements, and City Power had planned to ex…

Africa lost roughly 116 million hectares of forest between 1990 and 2025, according to the 2025 Global Forest Resource Assessment. That's a area of forest that isn't coming back fast enough.Only 10 of the continent's 54 countries recorded any increase in forest cover. South Africa gained 3,064 million hectares and Ghana added 1.25 million, but these modest recoveries are dwarfed by losses elsewhere. The Democratic Republic of the Congo lost 21,351 million hectares, Tanzania 14,765 million, and A…

Both transport and construction have shed roughly 5% to 6% of their workers since December 2018, while mining has bucked the trend. It grew modestly from 453,000 to 472,000 workers over the same period.The Covid-19 pandemic worsened the drop in construction, pushing employment to a low of 539,000 in Q2 2020.  The sector has been further weighed down by a sharp drop in activity, from R156-billion in 2016 to R99-billion in 2025, according to the Government Technical Advisory Centre.According…

Fuel prices skyrocketed on 1 April 2026, with petrol hitting a two-year high and diesel breaking all previous records.This is likely to impact the price of many staple foods, including bread, in the coming weeks and months.The fuel price hikes will substantially increase production prices for farmers. Diesel accounts for between 12 and 18% of the average farmer’s costs.In July 2022, South Africa's petrol prices hit R26.74 per litre, several months after Russia invaded Ukraine. In response, the g…

Less than half the people in Gauteng agreed with the statement that “it is the duty of all citizens to vote”, in the Electoral Commission of South Africa and Human Sciences Research Council’s Voter Participation Survey 2025/26. In fact, only 28% of people in Gauteng believed that democracy is preferable to any other kind of government. Gauteng had the lowest support for democracy of all South Africa’s provinces.With local government elections penciled in for the end of 2026, the HSRC notes that…

Japan’s Toyota dominated South Africa’s hybrid market in 2024, accounting for three out of every four hybrid vehicles sold. A year later, Chinese competitors are starting to chip away at that dominance.Traditional hybrids remain the most popular type of new energy vehicle in South Africa, with 12,818 units sold in 2025. These vehicles charge through the engine and regenerative braking. Plug-in hybrids, which can be connected to the grid, recorded 2,810 sales.While Japan, led by Toyota,…

Since cannabis was decriminalised, the number of drug-related convictions in South Africa’s courts has plummeted, and it may be having a positive effect on serious crime convictions.A 2018 Constitutional Court judgment decriminalised the possession of cannabis for private use. Before the judgment, more than half of convictions in the courts were related to dealing or possessing drugs.The NPA reported 156,158 convictions in 2017/18. This dropped to 41,404 in 2018/19, before increasing slightly to…