South Africa

"The EFF has been dealt yet another blow with its deputy president and founding member, Floyd Shivambu, resigning from the party. He will be joining former president Jacob Zuma’s uMkhonto Wesizwe party but did not reveal which position he will be occupying."

"In his journey across the heartlands of the Karoo, Wandile Sihlobo meets with some of the black farmers who are still waiting for title deeds on land currently owned by the state. And he laments the condition of failing municipal infrastructure that he encounters along the way."

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/18506062

cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/22593543

While Australia debates the merits of going nuclear and frustration grows over the slower-than-needed rollout of solar and wind power, China is going all in on renewables.

New figures show the pace of its clean energy transition is roughly the equivalent of installing five large-scale nuclear power plants worth of renewables every week.

A report by Sydney-based think tank Climate Energy Finance (CEF) said China was installing renewables so rapidly it would meet its end-of-2030 target by the end of this month — or 6.5 years early.

It's installing at least 10 gigawatts of wind and solar generation capacity every fortnight.

By comparison, experts have said the Coalition's plan to build seven nuclear power plants would add fewer than 10GW of generation capacity to the grid sometime after 2035.

Energy experts are looking to China, the world's largest emitter, once seen as a climate villain, for lessons on how to go green, fast.

"We've seen America under President Biden throw a trillion dollars on the table [for clean energy]," CEF director Tim Buckley said.

"China's response to that has been to double down and go twice as fast."

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/17393699

Do you guys like UFC?

A shocking new video has emerged of a Democratic Alliance Member of Parliament Renaldo Gouws appearing to spew hate speech.

edit: Holy shit... Lemmy needs to fix their mark-up when it comes to titles - it almost literally looked like it was actively trying to spell out the k-word.

cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/20782191

A case of rabies has been confirmed in a pet dog residing in the Capri area of the Southern Peninsula in Cape Town. The dog exhibited symptoms such as fever and increased aggression. Both the infected dog and a younger dog from the same household, which was injured, were humanely euthanized. The source of the infection is currently unclear, none of the dogs in the household had a recent travel history outside the province. Rabies is not endemic in wild animals in the City of Cape Town, with the closest wildlife cases in the past reported in the Paarl area. Recent investigations into reports of seals exhibiting aggressive behavior in the City found no evidence of rabies infection in seals.

cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/19484761

What are the best places to see content, news, conversations, or simply interesting websites over the internet.

Are these communities mostly embedded in social media like instagram/facebook/twitter or are there locally hosted places that are interesting for whatever reason to visit.

I would like to know, not only to view them myself, but perhaps link anything novel that I find to this community.

Feel free to post what you think fits, however obscure, even if you read this post 6 months from now!

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/14974345

The guy holding the owl in the photo is the rescuer, not the "depositer!" He says he's running into too many people not reading the article and think he did it.

From Times LIVE - South Africa

24 April 2024

Customers and staff at an Absa branch in Gauteng were dumbstruck when a customer tried to open a bank account using a live barn owl as a deposit.

The unlucky predator's luck changed when the man was told the bank could only accept legal tender, and his feathered friend was whisked to safety after intervention by the Owl Rescue Centre.

Absa confirmed the unusual request was made last Wednesday at a branch in Westonaria.

“As a trusted banking partner servicing customers from all walks of life over many years, we are committed to supporting our customers even when it comes to unusual life situations because every story matters,” said a spokesperson.

“We can confirm a customer approached our Westonaria branch on April 24 wanting to open a bank account and offering a live owl as a deposit. Given that we are a financial institution, and we only accept legal tender as deposits, we were unable to assist the customer, and cannot comment on the customer’s rationale for his approach.”

They immediately reached out for help.

“Our branch colleagues enlisted the assistance of the Owl Rescue Centre and saved the life of a beautiful owl because owl stories matter too,” the spokesperson said.

Absa had more good news for bird lovers.

“While we don’t accept animals, or livestock, as deposits, we are thrilled to announce Birdlife South Africa will soon be one of our Absa Rewards beneficiaries to which customers can donate through our free Absa Rewards programme.”

We interrupt this newscast for the following addendum:

😧😠😮‍💨

Back to our story!

Hartbeespoort Dam-based animal rescuer Brendan Murray said: “We have had stranger rescues and more difficult ones. My wife Danelle started Owl Rescue in Harties about 15 years ago. Since then almost not a day has gone by without us being called out to rescue some sort of animal.”

He was alerted to the owl's predicament.

“I immediately rushed over and we saved another one of our animal friends.”

Murray believes the man originally wanted to sell the owl.

“He first went to a muti shop close to the bank but the owner said they don't buy live animals. From there, he went to the bank.

“There seem to be a lot of people who believe it is OK to catch wild animals and sell them to businesses. We were called a while back by a pawnshop in Hillbrow. When I arrived there was an owl sitting at the entrance in a gilded cage from the 1980s.”

They recently helped relocate an owl from Saudi Arabia to an animal rehab centre in Turkey.

“We did the organising and managed all the EFT payments and everything without leaving South Africa.””

cross-posted from: https://futurology.today/post/1354587

Further Info from Wietze Post, a South African renewables provider.

Why load shedding has disappeared in South Africa.

Since March, South Africa’s myriad rooftop solar plants have terminated load shedding. Before, solar reduced load shedding.

Compared to last year (and 2022), SA's demand for Eskom's power has steadily declined since ±Sept 2023.

Daily peak demand is on a declining trend.

SA's daily peak demand is now about 1½GW-2½GW lower than last year. The gap vs the previous year is increasing.

The evening peak demand is trending down faster than the morning peak. I expect the morning peak to exceed the evening peak for the first time this summer (2024/ 2025).

Solar plant and battery capacity are expanding. The monthly compound growth rate is 4,6%-5%.

During the day, solar power is replacing Eskom power. That gives Eskom breathing room to replenish its hydro reserves. It also takes the pressure off hasty maintenance. Thus, they can do more thorough maintenance. Their plant operational readiness has improved.

Eskom's diesel turbines have run below-budgeted levels during the last four weeks.

The reason for load shedding's disappearance is not as bandied about by politicians. It has not stopped due to Eskom running their gas turbines on overdrive. The turbines do run sometimes, but usually only a few plants during the peak, if at all.

Solar generation is the prime reason for the decreased load shedding. SA’s evening peak demand has declined due to your solar batteries.

During the day, solar generation reduces Eskom’s demand (about 20% of the national load). Solar power also charges the batteries.

From late afternoon, solar households run on battery power. That usually carries them through to the early morning. Then, household power demand shows up again for Eskom. The home starts drawing energy from the grid. Verify my points by checking your PV plant's daily consumption curves.

As morning solar power increases, grid demand goes down. Consequently, Eskom does not ‘see’ the household again until the following morning. Add up 100s of thousands of households, and that makes a significant difference to the Eskom load.

East-facing panels generate the most valuable energy. Those who've had the foresight to install East-facing panels have the earliest benefit. If you also have West-facing panels, you will make the most efficient use of your battery.

‘Overload’ your inverter with East and West-facing PV panels. Then you’ll get the cheapest energy (kWh) and most stable power supply (kW).

I recommend you read up on “Wright’s Law” and the “Solar Duck Curve”.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/20597532

They raised almost $5,000 to help South Africans fight racial discrimination.

Source

Will the general election on 29 May 2024 be 'historic'?

Hi, all. So I am a South African living abroad, and I have a question. See, I'm an amateur musician, and I want to record a cover of the song "Blou Blou Lug" by Seeleeu Leipoldt for my next album. The problem is that I can't seem to find out how to navigate the copyright situation. I don't want to step on anyone's toes here. Is there a database somewhere that I can search to figure out who owns this song?

TL;DR: I need info on the copyright of an old Afrikaans song for the purpose of releasing a cover version.