February 26, 2024.

For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Halima Frost.

Making headlines:

Ramaphosa says 2024 Budget proves govt’s commitment to achieving sustainable fiscal trajectory

DA wants Public Protector to investigate Bheki Cele’s helicopter use

And, Ramokgopa says govt close to finalising structure for private grid financing

Ramaphosa says 2024 Budget proves govt’s commitment to achieving sustainable fiscal trajectory

President Cyril Ramaphosa said that by reducing debt, government will spend more on improving infrastructure, schools and hospitals, and making communities safer.

Ramaphosa wrote in his weekly letter to the nation that the less the State borrows, the more can be invested in the economy. 

He noted that over the past 15 years, the country’s debt burden had seen government spend more on interest payments than on education or health care services.

Last week, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana presented the national Budget, which Ramaphosa believes will help achieve more rapid and inclusive economic growth while supporting government’s developmental goals.

He said that while the country’s economy had been weighed down by more than a decade of low growth and rising debt, made worse during the State capture era, the 2024 Budget showed that government was heading in the right direction.

DA wants Public Protector to investigate Bheki Cele’s helicopter use

The Democratic Alliance wants the Public Protector to order Police Minister Bheki Cele to pay back the South African Police Service costs incurred for his personal use of the police helicopter, including fuel, rental time, airport taxes and any other amounts.

This comes after Cele used an official Saps helicopter to get to the African National Congress’s manifesto launch at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in KwaZulu-Natal this weekend.

DA Shadow Minister of Police Andrew Whitfield said Cele not only acted in a manner that was “unbecoming of a Minister”, but that he used his position to unduly benefit himself and abuse resources, which were violations of the Ethics Code.

The DA noted that the Public Protector’s Office must order that the use of the Saps helicopter was for private/party use and not in accordance with Cele executing his functions as Minister.

Ramokgopa says govt close to finalising structure for private grid financing

Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa says all the work being done by government on the financial structure to facilitate private investment into the country’s transmission infrastructure is being consolidated under his Ministry, including the work being done on the issue by the National Treasury and the International Finance Corporation.

This confirmation follows an announcement in the National Treasury’s Budget Review that a request for proposals will be released by the end of July for a pilot project involving “off-balance-sheet financing to accelerate private-sector investment in transmission, without negatively affecting Eskom’s balance sheet and the fiscus”.

Ramokgopa indicated during a briefing on the implementation of the Energy Action Plan that his Ministry had been working with the National Treasury, the IFC and others on what he termed an “EPC plus F” concept, involving the engineering, procurement, construction plus financing of new transmission infrastructure.

He insisted that the plan was being coordinated under his auspices with the intention of settling on a way to structure such transactions without the need for government guarantees or undermining the National Transmission Company South Africa, the grid and system operator currently being established as an independent entity under Eskom Holdings.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today

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