Featuring enhanced load-carrying capacity and improved driver comfort and convenience features, automotive company Ford South Africa has begun the introduction of the new Transit Custom commercial vehicle range. The Transit Custom launches in South Africa with the Base Long Wheelbase Van initially, with additional derivatives to follow later this year.

Government aims for the system that will see road users accrue demerit points for road traffic offences to kick off in the middle of next year, says National Automobile Dealers' Association (NADA) chairperson Brandon Cohen. Within this long-delayed system, drivers can get 15 demerit points before their licences are suspended.

South Africa, where 79% of the world’s rhinos live, said it aims to come up with a plan by the end of 2030 to dismantle an almost half-century ban on trading the endangered animals’ horns. The proposal, contained in a draft of the country’s first rhino biodiversity-management plan released late Tuesday, is controversial because poaching of the animals for their horns has decimated their populations across Africa. The horns are ground into powder and sold in east Asia where they are falsely believed to cure cancer and other ailments. The country’s environment department will prepare a proposal for a resumption in trade to submit to the national cabinet for approval. It will depend on criteria related to the sustainability of rhino populations. That proposal would then be taken to a meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna, under which the trade has been banned since 1977. The aim of the plan is that “conditions are met for legal international trade in rhino horn from protected wild rhinoceros, for conservation purposes, to be promoted,” the department said.

“The formation of a government of national unity is a moment of profound significance. It is the beginning of a new era.” This was the statement made by Cyril Ramaphosa in his inaugural speech, at the Union Buildings, where he pledged himself to be a President for all South Africans and to work with everybody committed to “a better life for all”. The inauguration, which was overseen by Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, and attended by various heads of State as well as former Presidents Thabo Mbeki and Kgalema Motlanthe, marks Ramaphosa’s second stint as South Africa’s leader, but this time, not only backed by his political party, the African National Congress, but also by other parties that make up the GNU. After losing its outright majority in the May 29 national and provincial elections the ANC was forced to forge alliances with other parties to form a national government. In his speech on Wednesday, Ramaphosa compared the GNU to the one that was formed 30 years ago, following the end of Apartheid. “In their multitude, in voices that are many and diverse, the people of South Africa have voted and made known their wishes, their concerns and their expectations. We accept and respect the results of the elections and we once again say the people have spoken. Their will shall be done without any doubt or question. The voters of South Africa did not give any single party the full mandate to govern our country alone. They have directed us to work together to address their plight and realise their aspirations,” he acknowledged. The President conceded that there were many areas in basic service delivery where the previous government fell short – electricity, jobs, land, housing, food, healthcare, safety, corruption – and assured South Africans that he would work with any political party and sector willing to help tackle the challenges facing the country.

South African aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) concern, ExecuJet MRO Services South Africa, announced on Wednesday that it was on course to establish a new company record for airframe heavy maintenance checks this year. The enterprise specialises in business (also called executive) aircraft MRO services, and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of renowned French aerospace group Dassault Aviation. The new record that will be set this year will be for at least 11 airframe heavy maintenance checks. The South African company’s previous record was for seven such checks in a single year.

This week: Copper 360 on home straight to produce quite a bit of cash, CEO reports; Reserve Bank concern about decline of public markets welcome development; and, Artificial intelligence used to eliminate need for rare earths in permanent magnets

Energy-intensive Richards Bay Minerals (RBM), which consumes an average of 1.8 terawatts of power a year, was able to secure its latest 140 MW wind energy power purchase agreement (PPA) in six months. When operating at full capacity, RBMs, power consumption across its mining and smelting operations can reach up to 400 MW and this month’s quickly concluded wind PPA was, in fact, the second renewable-energy project of this Rio Tinto company.

Diversified miner Mineral Resources (MinRes) will shut its Yilgarn iron-ore mine, in Western Australia’s Goldfields region, at the end of the year. The decision, announced on Wednesday, follows an assessment that confirmed that it was not financially viable for the hub to continue beyond the calendar year.

The majority of electric utilities in developing countries are ill-equipped to meet growing demand for power and add more renewable energy into the grid, thereby hindering global energy transition goals to provide clean, reliable and affordable electricity to all, development cooperation organisation the World Bank reports. 'The Critical Link: Empowering Utilities for the Energy Transition' report, published this week, showed that only 40% of developing country utilities are able to cover their operating and debt service costs.

Brickmaker Corobrik has outlined its plans for accessing prime clay at its Rietvlei operations, assuring that while it needs to remove coal deposits, it has no intention of becoming a coal producer. Natasha Odendaal has the story.