Covy

energy and development | PhD @SPRU | energy, transitions, innovation | @sussexNRGgroup | Mandela-Sussex scholar @ids_uk |

[Covy @Blanche_ting]

Much anticipated South Africa’s Just Energy Transition Plan 2023-2027 #JETIP priority sectors are: 1) electricity 2)transport 3) green hydrogen #COP27  #EnergyTransition #GH2

[Covy @Blanche_ting]

@EmiratesSupport Stuck in Copenhagen. Barely any
information, other than to go home

[Anton Eberhard @AntonEberhard]

South Africa’s energy regulator Nersa confirms R54bn mistake in its tariff determination and a secret settlement with @Eskom_SA . R54 billion! Not a trivial error. You and I’ll be paying more in our electricity bills. #MoneywebNews - By @AntoinetteSlab https://t.co/AtnYQiJysp via @Moneyweb

[Reads with Ravi @readswithravi]

The Paradox of Knowledge:

[Deedy @deedydas]

🚨 BREAKING: Detailed list of all 44 people in Meta's Superintelligence team.

— 50% from China
— 75% have PhDs, 70% Researchers
— 40% from OpenAI, 20% DeepMind, 15% Scale
— 20% L8+ level
— 75% 1st gen immigrants

Each of these people are likely getting paid $10-$100M/yr.

[Mageba @Mageba_____]

Trauma surgery in South Africa

[Leon Schreiber @Leon_Schreib]

Home Affairs has heard the pleas of South Africans living abroad, who have struggled for years to renew their passports and IDs, often waiting 12+ months just to get a new passport. From end July, we’re launching new facilities abroad - with a turnaround time of just 5 weeks.

We’re starting in Australia, New Zealand and the UAE this month, followed by France, Germany and The Netherlands later this year, and the USA and Canada in the new year.

But even this step is still just an interim solution. Our ultimate aim is to deliver Home Affairs @ home, which will enable every South African - no matter where they are on the planet - to obtain services from their government online 🇿🇦

[The Spectator Index @spectatorindex]

Youth unemployment

🇿🇦 South Africa: 62.4%
🇪🇸 Spain: 25.4%
🇮🇹 Italy: 21.6%
🇫🇷 France: 18%
🇹🇷 Turkey: 15.4%
🇨🇳 China: 14.9%
🇨🇦 Canada: 14.2%
🇬🇧 United Kingdom: 12.7%
🇺🇸 United States: 10%
🇦🇺 Australia: 9.4%
🇳🇱 Netherlands: 8.8%
🇩🇪 Germany: 6.6%
🇰🇷 South Korea: 6.6%
🇯🇵 Japan: 4.4%
🇨🇭 Switzerland: 2.5%

[Covy @Blanche_ting]

unbelievable. First company to reach 4 trillion market cap.

#NVIDIA #AI

[CNBC International @CNBCi]

Nvidia shares jumped more than 2% on Wednesday, topping a $4 trillion market cap for the first time as investors scooped stock in the tech giant building the hardware for the generative artificial intelligence boom.

➡️ Nvidia is the first company to ever achieve this market value.

➡️ Nvidia is the world’s most valuable company, surpassing Microsoft and Apple, both of which hit the $3 trillion mark before Nvidia. Microsoft is also one of Nvidia’s biggest and most important customers.

Read more here: https://t.co/bT2u8TxXTP

[Sizwe SikaMusi @SizweLo]

The GNU govt is considering redefining “unemployment” to include informal hustle. Soon, selling avos at a taxi rank = full employment.

Trade & Industry Minister Parks Tau is supporting Capitec CEO Gerrie Fourie’s call to rethink how South Africa calculates unemployment, suggesting informal work should be factored into employment figures. If they do that, Fourie claims the real unemployment rate might be closer to 10%, not the grim 32.9% reported in Q1.

So yes, the precariously employed, hustling day by day without contracts, benefits, or protection may soon be considered “employed.”

So, instead of creating jobs, just change the definition. Problem solved.

Yes, the informal sector is real, but equating it to stable employment is misleading. Many in the informal economy are surviving, not thriving.

If informal hustle is reclassified as “employment” government policy may underreact, assuming the problem is solved on paper. Meanwhile, millions will fall into the cracks without pensions, healthcare, job security, and livable incomes.

The state wins because it avoids responsibility.
Capital wins because the illusion of macroeconomic stability attracts investors.
The poor lose because their suffering is renamed “employment.” WWL.

In essence, a street vendor feeding a family on R60/day becomes a beacon of entrepreneurial spirit, rather than a victim of systemic abandonment by the state and its handlers in the financial sector.

So, it’s fair to say this proposal is not just about data. It’s about shaping perception. If the jobless rate is 10%, then the crisis feels less urgent. It becomes a downgrade in how human suffering is measured, with no change in actual conditions.

Acknowledging informal workers is important for support, infrastructure, and inclusion, not to cook numbers. In the end, the people don’t need a better illusion. They need better jobs.

[Daily Investor @DailyInvestorSA]

Between 2020 and 2024, approximately 108,000 South Africans emigrated from the country, including many highly skilled and affluent individuals.

https://t.co/dwVpEyevhG

[Clayson Monyela @ClaysonMonyela]

#SouthAfrica🇿🇦 supplies 12 out of the 50 minerals identified by the USA🇺🇲 as critical for the US economy. In addition, SA has significant high-grade deposits of rare earth minerals & is ready to partner with countries that agree to/support beneficiation. #SAinUSA

[Karun Pal @karunpal]

Introverts greatest pain is unexpressed potential. They know things. More than you can imagine. They're thinkers. They observe, they study, they reflect. Deep & wide. But they keep it all inside. Locked up. Waiting for someone to discover who they are. Patiently. Alone.

[Covy @Blanche_ting]

My dad worked in the eastern cape from 1982-2017, mostly in Cecilia Makiwane Hospital,Mdantsane. The hospital had outdated medical equipment, syringes,needles, tubes were scarce. 35years, immigrants working in rural areas, are being asked why they are there. #SouthAfrica

[In A Nutshell🥜 @Markosonke1]

Your friend is 100% right — except for the part about bread costing $50. I work at Baragwanath myself. Bread isn’t that expensive… yet. But everything else? Spot on. Our hospitals are barely functioning. Right now, if a surgeon drops dead mid-operation, the position stays vacant because the government has frozen all recruitment. Yep — unemployed doctors are sitting at home while wards go unmanned.
No medication. No surgical tools. No linen. No dignity. Politicians wouldn’t dare be treated here — they run to Milpark or fly to Dubai for a headache. Hospitals are filthy, tenders are handed to “comrades” who’ve never seen a mop or a syringe, and if you ask questions, you're “undermining transformation.” Honestly, if we had a @DOGE to clean these institutions we can have enough money to build a state of the art Baragwanath in the metaverse. This is the true short story of our health care system i can go on and on.. Kuningi!

[Sizwe SikaMusi @SizweLo]

Most of us grow up thinking taxes pay for everything the government does—schools, roads, hospitals, etc. We’re told that if we want better services, the government has to “raise money” through taxes. But here’s the truth: That’s not how it works.

🧵Thread🧵

[Ed Conway @EdConwaySky]

📽️ How much have the US and others given in aid to Ukraine? Who's been the most generous? How does it all compare with previous conflicts?
And what's with Donald Trump's money-for-minerals deal?
All the answers in my primer, this time with bonus extra charts 🤓

[Covy @Blanche_ting]

@against_biased @MichaelJordaan Exactly

[Covy @Blanche_ting]

I watched this interview last week. In less than 4 days, the world has realized the AI race is no longer the US one to lead. Let’s this disruptive innovation fast forward. #DeepSeekR1 #nvidiablackwell

[Alexandr Wang @alexandr_wang]

An interview today where I talk about how it relates to the US/China race and DeepSeek’s score:

https://t.co/CZwyro771N

[Hey Joe 💻🎸🎭🏀🏈🛣️ @sojoerner]

“The actual large language model is essentially a commodity that you can value and use depending on costs and veracity."

So here we are folks…

3/3

[Karin Richards @Richards_Karin]

Nvidia: The must-read paper on the DeepSeek situation.
Recommended by @chamath who knows his stuff.
I spent an hour – it was worth it.
Bottom line: deep disruption is here for big tech. Nvidia’s 90% margins on GPUs will evaporate fast. The moats are gone.
https://t.co/onQJnZWST1

[Economic Times @EconomicTimes]

US stock futures sink as investors weigh China challenge to US dominance in AI, Nvidia drops 12%
https://t.co/UksgwMW0Si