Morning Brief: Ramaphosa to declare energy emergency within days

Good morning, here’s what you need to know today:

Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to announce an energy crisis in the coming days, which would entail slashing red tape blocking new energy generation capacity, financial giants are in hot water with unions for mandatory vaccination dismissals, and Boris Johnson’s successor to be the next UK prime minister expected in September.

Ramaphosa expected to declare an energy emergency within days – Business Day (for subscribers)

In the coming days, President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to announce an energy emergency and with it, he will take bold action to solve South Africa’s energy crisis.

The president acknowledged in his weekly newsletter that the government had not done enough to solve the matter. One of the immediate measures expected to be announced by the president is the removal of bureaucratic red tape.

The process to bring in new generation capacity is held up in overly bureaucratic processes and the steps taken thus far by the government, which include allowing private power providers to apply for up to 100MW of electricity generation are not enough. Read more here.

Old Mutual, Standard Bank have now fired 89 people for refusing Covid-19 jab – News24 (for subscribers)

Two of SA’s financial sector giants, Standard Bank and Old Mutual are preparing themselves for a fight after the financial sector union, Sasbo, said it was prepared to fight dismal cases related to covid-19 vaccinations all the way to the Constitutional Court if necessary.

Since implementing a vaccination policy in November 2021, Old Mutual has fired 49 employees for failing to get their jabs by the January 2022 deadline while Standard Bank has fired 40 of its employees.

But both institutions have since done away with mandatory vaccination requirements for employees after Old Mutual axed the policy on June 22 while Standard Bank confirmed yesterday that the mandatory vaccination policy had been removed with immediate effect.

However, Sasbo, which represents 73,000 members in the finance sector, is readying itself for a fight. Read more here.

New UK prime minister to be announced on September 5 – Reuters

Britain will have a new prime minister come September with 11 candidates vying to be the next leader of the Conservative Party, which would in turn make them the next prime minister.

The voting to begin eliminating candidates from the process will begin this week with the party’s 1922 committee, which organises the leadership contest, saying candidates would need 20 votes from the party’s 358 MPs to advance to the next round of voting.

The first vote is expected on Wednesday and anyone who receives less than 30 votes will be eliminated before another vote is held on Thursday.

Once there are only two candidates left, the less than 200,000 Tory party members will vote by mail from across the country to elect Boris Johnson’s successor. Read more here.