SOUTH AFRICAN ECONOMIC NEWS

ECONOMY NEWS SOUTH AFRICA                                                                   31.03.2015

 

We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.’ – Winston Churchill

Black economic empowerment  at its best is a complex and sensitive issue, but the elephant in the room  race is the cause of huge discomfort and economic alienation and although discussed in private, is not dealt with openly and honestly.

However, if our nation wants to unite, progress and prosper, this issue has to be debated with brutal honesty; innovative and inclusive models have to be found.

I suffer from a fair amount of prejudice in a wide range of areas. I do not have all-pervading knowledge – very far from it; like all of us, my views are influenced by what I know. I can only strive to know and to understand more, but I will never be able to see the whole picture.

None of us will. Living in denial, though, remaining quiet for the sake of peace and safety, won’t bring me closer to the truth.

In addressing this issue, and since I am a so-called white , risk being called a racist and anti progressive . But for the sake of South Africa and all its people, I will take the risk.

This article has nothing to do with the empowerment of black people, but everything to do with forced business marriages, made for the wrong reasons – based not on a natural merging of talents, abilities and a shared vision, but forced upon business for purposes of short-term commercial gain, even survival. That is while history has taught us that sound decisions can never be based on skin colour.

This article is inspired by the increased challenges white owned small, medium and micro enterprises and family businesses are facing due to BEE demands in obtaining any form of business from larger companies, let alone the state – which to all practical purposes in respect of these businesses is now a dry pit.

The biggest potential job creator is effectively sidelined. The consequences are obvious.

The BEE scheme is designed for some to win and others to lose. The criterium is skin colour – similar to the pre-1994 arrangement. It is modelled on a similar evil, only with a different colour. This noble aim, the argument goes, is to correct the wrongs of the past.

 

SOUTH AFRICAN ECONOMY NEWS

We can all be winners                                                31.03.2015

“You do not strengthen your weakness by weakening your strength”, I once heard the cricket player Darryl Cullinan say. Marginalising one part of our population won’t place lasting wealth in the hands of others. We will never prosper unless the potential of all South Africans is unleashed and optimised.

South Africa will never experience sustainable prosperity if any of its people are structurally marginalised. Race-driven policies will remain a stain on this nation’s conscience, which inevitably will inhibit creativity, suppress productivity and prohibit overall economic growth.

We cannot ignore the past, but we will have to be much more innovative if we want to redress it. We will have to come up with a completely new model, not only use the flip side of that old coin as our point of departure – that completely unrealistic, obsolete and unrighteous old model.

Hard work and integrity is the only way to wealth. There’s no other way. Riches, in respect of those who desire it, can be obtained through other means with apparent good short-term results, but that is never sustainable.

After 20 years of democracy, South Africa is a much better place in many areas. There is so much counting in our favour. But we also find ourselves in huge danger. Right in front of our eyes we see, in a number of areas, how our country is failing. Our race-based policies play a huge part in these self-created challenges.

Tightening the screws in order to manufacture a particular result, to quicken the pace of race transformation, won’t solve any of these problems; instead, it will speed up the decline.

All is not lost yet, but bringing about real change, stimulating the economy, creating real jobs, bringing the poor and disenfranchised into the mainstream economy will require a new ideology, an inclusive approach and, above all, very strong leadership.

It’s up to us.
 

SOUTH AFRICA’S ACTION PLAN TO KEEP LIGHTS ON

South Africa’s action plan to keep the lights on

 

South Africa’s so-called “energy war room”, established to address the country’s energy supply problems, was focused on implementing government’s five-point plan, Rural Development and Land Reform Minister Gugile Nkwinti said on Tuesday.

 

The minister said this at a media briefing held by the Economic Sectors, Employment and Infrastructure Development Cluster at the Imbizo Centre in Cape Town, which he chairs.

 

The government has been hosting briefings on the implementation of government’s programme of action following President Jacob Zuma’s State of the Nation Address on 12 February.

Nkwinti said the five-point plan entailed:

 

• implementing Eskom’s maintenance and capacity improvement programme;
• introducing new generation capacity through coal;
• entering into co-generation contracts with the private sector;
• introducing gas-to-power; and
• accelerating demand side management.

In December last year, Cabinet announced that a war room had been set up following the power outages which were impacting on the daily lives of South Africans. The war room is made up of the departments of Energy; Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs; Public Enterprises; Economic Development; Water and Sanitation; the Treasury and Eskom; as well as technical officials.

The Government will provide R23-billion to Eskom in the next fiscal year to improve its finances to minimise load-shedding, Nkwinti said.

One of government’s objectives in the medium- to long-term included the diversification of the country’s energy sources, he said, and state-owned companies were “undertaking programmes to accelerate the exploration for oil and gas”.

A number of exploration wells would be drilled over the next 10 years in partnership with the private sector, and gas infrastructure would be expanded.

Efforts to diversify the energy supply would include importation of hydro-power and nuclear and renewable energy.

WOMEN OF THE BLACK MAMBAS TAKE ON POACHERS

Women of the Black Mambas take on poachers

 

A group of South African women who are part of an anti-poaching unit are not afraid to man-up in a nature reserve. The Black Mambas are well-trained bobbies on the beat in the Olifants West Nature Reserve, and their success can be seen in the massive drop in snaring.

A group of 26 South African women is on a mission: to stop poaching so that their children and grandchildren are able to see Africa’s Big 5 in the wild.

Known as the Black Mambas Anti-Poaching Unit (APU) of Transfrontier Africa, they protect the Olifants West Nature Reserve. It forms part of the Balule Nature Reserve, near Kruger National Park. It is not an easy job for them, because they work in a male-dominated environment.

Amy Clark, the project administrator at Transfrontier Africa, says the women have to endure the judgement of others while trying to prove themselves on the job. “Since the majority of our Mambas are mothers, they also have to leave their families behind for extended periods of time while on duty in the reserve.

“Former soldiers and old-school conservationists had doubts that the Mambas could effectively protect wildlife, but the success of our female mambas has triumphed over the scepticism,” she adds.

“I want my baby to see a rhino, that’s why I am protecting it,” one of the women, who is pregnant, told Grind TV.

Clark says the Mambas are fully qualified to carry out arrests. “Since the deployment of our first team in April 2013, we have, to date, assisted in the arrest of six poachers. However, our mission is not to catch poachers, but to prevent poaching altogether by early detection and visual policing.

“We do not measure our success on the number of poachers caught, but on the number of weeks free of any poaching-related incidents.”

 

FOUR SCENARIOS FOOD CRISIS IN SOUTH AFRICA

Four scenarios food crisis in South Africa

Four scenarios were developed focusing on plausible threats to natural resources, food production, the impacts of the political economy and nutrition issues respectively.

Looking only at the first scenario – the one that deals with the natural resources on which we rely in order to produce food – we’re presented with some dire realities if increased warming and droughts develop as predicted.

Picture this scenario for a moment: increasing temperatures and droughts result in a crisis in water quality and quantity. This, of course, coincides with a crisis in energy supply, setting in motion a ripple-effect through interconnected ecological and social systems. Soils have been depleted, there is limited viable arable land, irrigation demand is growing and municipal infrastructure is ageing.

Poverty, inequality, high unemployment rates and household food insecurity form the social backdrop to this scenario. As a result of many of these factors, South Africa’s river systems take strain, which in turn impacts on agriculture.

Some potential results: the quality of export crops would be compromised by poor water quality; significant job losses would occur in the agricultural sector; honeybee species would become endangered, threatening crop pollination; state expenditure on food may be diverted to nuclear infrastructure to address the energy crisis; crop yields would decrease; drought conditions would push up the price of staple foods.

Higher food prices

None of the above is far fetched. In fact, some of this is already playing out with 2015 predicted to be an eight-year low in maize production due to drought. The knock-on effects of this include higher food prices in the short-term as the grain is a basic input for the production of red meat, poultry, eggs and milk.

The purpose of developing the food future scenarios was to prompt a more coherent conversation about an effective food system for South Africa. The scenarios help to identify the choices organisations and individuals can make now to adapt to anticipated challenges or to shape, together, the future of food in South Africa.

HOW THE ENERGY CRISIS IMPACTS ON FOOD SECURITY IN SA

How the energy crisis impacts on food security in SA

 

In 2008, scores of South Africans responded in angry disbelief to calls to switch off their lights for an hour in WWF’s annual Earth Hour campaign.

In the midst of what was, at that point, the country’s worst ever energy crisis, the call to voluntarily dim the lights seemed ludicrous. Seven years down the line, and with Earth Hour round the corner on 28 March, the country faces a similar energy situation, with talk of loadshedding continuing for the next few years at best.

The difference is, this time round we know more. Increasing resource price inflation and volatility has highlighted the interconnected and interdependent nature of energy, water and food resources and the increased risk of resource-related shocks.

Crisis in the energy system can quickly have knock-on effects to the food system. For example, consider the impacts of loadshedding on both irrigation schedules and the cold chain in food transport in the African Continent.

 

ENERGY NEWS SOUTH AFRICA

Suntech Power, the manufacturer of solar products for residential, commercial, industrial and utility applications, has announced the opening of a warehouse in Cape Town, South Africa.

New facility will initially store 500kW of modules and will expand its storage capacity to 1MW later in 2015. Suntech established a full time presence in South Africa in 2014 as part of its expansion efforts in the African Continent.

“The opening of a local warehouse in Cape Town will allow Suntech to increase its sales capacity in South Africa, and in the South African development community, which serves as a free trade zone. We are also eliminating the effort involved in the PV modules shipping and importation procedure, which will help our customers to better plan their project schedules,” said Joey Zheng, regional director of Suntech’s Africa and South Asia markets.

“With a growing number of sales to larger scale projects, we will now be able to assure that all of our customers will have their products within 24 hours after purchase, whereas previously it took 40 days for modules to be delivered.

 

CONCRETE BLOCK MACHINE-2

CONCRETE BLOCK MACHINE -2                                    30.03.2015

Beysanmak concrete block machine making equipment is ideally for to customers in south africa’s various  sectors, including brick and concrete block machine making plants for the building industry and concrete brick and paving blocks producers.

All brick and concrete block machine for south africa, with robust frame design and vibration technology that ensure low maintenance costs and impressive durability with concrete block machine producing. concrete block machine allows you to continue producing quality bricks, without thinking of about decreased production caused by unnecessary downtime and expensive parts for the small investors in south africa.

Beysanmak provide concrete block machine making solutions to various industries where cement or industrial mixers are used, including cement feed and weighing, manual and automatic pallet handling systems, and automation control of the concrete block machine.

One of the leading  companys of concrete block machine and exporteur  Beysanmak has over 17 years’ experience in the block and brick making industry, providing the building materials and concrete block machine production sector with robust, easy to use, cost effective and efficient brick and concrete block machine making solutions.

Beysanmak  brings your business the most affordable concrete block machine plant solutions. We supply high quality brick making equipment with suitable prices.

Beysanmak is manufacturer of  quality brick and concrete block machine making machines. If you are looking to purchase a concrete block  machine  you have come to the right address.

Should you have any questions with regards to our equipment, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Our concrete block machine , is excellent in producing of concrete paving blocks and curbstones with high production efficiency and lower energy consumption.since putting into market,good economic profits and social benefits have been acheived. If you want to know more about concrete block machine visit the website http://www.beysanmak.com

BLOCK MAKING MACHINE(S)

Block making machine(s)            30.03.2015

 

Bricks-blocks making is considered an ancient art. Bricks-blocks stood the test of time and are still being used in modern building construction. Ancient people used different kinds bricks but the result is the same creation that some were even considered as the wonders of the world.  Pyramids of Egypt were built with mud bricks while Colosseum and other Roman structures were made with fired bricks because at that time they did’nt have block making machines.

There are also different types materials that you can use in block making machine. On the other hand today we use sand for the block making machines, cement and gravel for block making machines to brick manufacturers. Today is very easy to produce bricks with block making machine.

 

The block making machine line starts with mixing sand, water and cement. Sand is important so that you can remove the brick from the block making machines  mold. Mixture is pressed into block making machine moulds or you can shape it through a die and then cut up in sizes you desire with block making machine.

 

Bricks are now refined with technology and block making machines are available to produce them in mass quantity in less time. You can purchase yourself with block making   machines that can produce as much as 3,000- 25.000 bricks a day.

Beysanmak block making machine are built to high standard using excellent grade of materials from European suppliers wide to ensure maximum durability. Our experienced team of block making machines  providing efficient equipment to you, the customer, which require minimal maintenance allowing for maximum production.

Our company Beysanmak  brings you the most affordable block making machines plant solutions. We supply  quality block making machine equipment with suitable prices. If you want more information please visit our web site http://www.beysanmak.com

 

 

BRICK MAKING MACHINE(S)

 

Brick making machine (s)                                                26.03.2015

Beysanmak manufacturing production line is a semi or full automatic system brick making machine line with a production capacity of 18.000 blocks from 6cm to 38cm height, allowing the manufacturing of a wide range of products for buildings industry, also manufacturing concrete  paving blocks on the brick making machine by only changing the mould.

For such performances the vibration by the brick making machine becomes one of the essential points of the brick making machines and  equipment. The brick making machine to the world standards the vibration system is not only an must but a standard for all our high performance vibropresses by brick making machines, concrete batching plants for the South African market.

Strong structure and materials allow the use of very high  hydraulic unit that comes standard with speed control modules allows the brick making machine movements with therefore ensuring a longer durability and low maintenance of the brick making machine and equipment.

Our company Beysanmak brick making machines are robust and designed for the developing world, making our equipment ideal for Asian and African continent especially for South Africa and the Middle East market.

Beysanmak is also supply a wide range of brick making machines and material handling equipment like pan mixers, twinshaft mixers, stationery batching plants, aggregate conveyors, silos, conveyor solutions, bunkers and silos.

Beysanmak brick making machines equipment is ideal for the customers in various sectors, including brick making machine,concrete plants, concrete brick making machine and paving for manufacturers in South Africa.

Beysanmak is one of the Leading brick making machine suppliers in Turkey for the African continent, providing the building materials and concrete production sector with robust bricks-blocks machine with suitable prices and efficient brick making  machines and stationary concrete batching plants. For more information visit our Beysanmak website http://www.beysanmak.com