- Political parties may be looking to play a longer game – opting to build relationships and partnerships to take power in the 2024 national election, rather than enter into destructive coalitions to gain the upper hand in municipalities now. The DA this weekend made it clear that it will not enter into any coalitions with the ANC and the EFF, following the volatility it suffered post-2016 when the EFF scuppered its agreements over policy issues. The DA said it would rather form strong oppositions in hung municipalities than work with parties who are not on the same page. The ANC has expressed similar sentiments, saying it is happy to be the opposition in areas it has lost.
- South Africa’s load shedding crisis could escalate as Eskom’s relationship with service providers has reportedly soured to the point that critical work at the Kusile power stations has stopped. A contractual dispute with Eskom has reportedly led to work on conveyor belts – needed to transport coal to the plant – ceasing. This has been ongoing for two weeks. The work stopped after Eskom stopped paying the company handling the process. The power utility said it stopped the payments to offset overpayments of around R500m it made over the years.
- South African consumers will have to dig deeper in their pockets at the tills this festive season, with food prices set to rise on the back of rising petrol prices, feed, and input costs. This week, the price of petrol increased to a record R19.54 by R1.21 a litre, an increase that will exacerbate the already high cost of food, analysts say. “The recent fuel price does not bode well for the inflation profile in the short- to medium-forecast horizon, particularly food inflation. This is also exacerbated by the fact that there are other cost-push pressures, like fertiliser costs and electricity costs,” Kulani Siweya, Agri SA’s chief economist, told Business Insider SA.
Flash Briefing: Long game coalition politics; load shedding crisis to worsen; food prices to spike ahead of Christmas
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