President Cyril Ramaphosa returns to SA after the ill-planned peace mission to Russia and Ukraine with the aim of finding a peaceful resolution to the conflict.
Ramaphosa was joined by delegations from Zambia, Senegal, Congo Republic, Uganda and Egypt.
They met Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for about three hours each on Friday and Saturday to discuss ending the war.
The planned visit to Russia and Ukraine came against a backdrop of Pretoria being criticised for refusing to condemn Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.
SA has denied this, maintaining that it remains neutral in the conflict.
The talks come as Moscow is preparing for its second summit with African countries, scheduled for the end of July in St Petersburg.
SA is also set to host the Brics summit in August at which Putin’s attendance is uncertain after the International Criminal Court issued a warrant for his arrest.
As a signatory to the Rome Statute, SA would be compelled to detain the Russian leader.
The summit is expected to discuss the expansion of Brics with more than 20 countries applying for entry.
Brics — an acronym for Brazil, Russia, India, China and SA — is a grouping of emerging markets and developing countries to discuss social and economic multilateralism.
Business Day reported in June that Ramaphosa would ask Putin to attend the meeting virtually.
However, it is understood that the government is still looking into legal mechanisms that would allow Putin to physically attend the gathering.
Ramaphosa will on Tuesday host a joint working visit by Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Denmark Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen.
The prime ministers will visit SA on June 19 and 20 at the invitation of Ramaphosa. The visit seeks to solidify SA’s relationship with Denmark and the Netherlands in the areas of green hydrogen, renewable energy and just energy transition.
“It is expected that SA and the Netherlands will sign the memorandum of understanding on co-operation on green hydrogen,” the presidency said in a statement.
The visit also brings a substantial group of investors to SA to reinforce the high levels of co-operation and good relations.
Also this week, international relations & co-operation minister Naledi Pandor will host her counterparts from Europe.
The working visit will provide an opportunity for SA to “deepen engagement” and discussion on various topics of mutual interest, including regional and international issues.
Though Eskom warned that stage 8 load-shedding is possible in the coming weeks, power outages have eased in recent days.
This is largely attributed to less maintenance, the burning of diesel and coal-fired power stations operating better in the cold.
Meanwhile, Eskom has issued a tender seeking a service provider to drive the Komati Power Station socioeconomic development plan, to assist with the transitioning from fossil fuels to renewable energy.
Part of the plan includes management and implementation of mitigation measures for the socioeconomic impacts resulting from the shutdown of the coal-fired generating units at Eskom’s Komati.
The last of the units at Komati reached the end of its operational life in October 2022 and was shut down.
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