| Welcome to Next Africa, a twice-weekly newsletter on where the continent stands now — and where it’s headed. Sign up here to have it delivered to your email. South Africa’s embattled and indebted electricity utility may finally be turning things around. After a record $3 billion annual loss, Eskom is predicting its first profit since 2017 in the current financial year — a glimmer of hope for a power-starved nation and beleaguered economy. That’s as the company’s chiefs clamp down on chronic dysfunction that saw almost-daily rolling blackouts in the year through March. Energy sales had dropped, criminals syphoned off billions of rand of electricity and the firm couldn’t meet demand.  Eskom’s Hendrina coal-powered power station. Photographer: Waldo Swiegers/Bloomberg Underperformance by the near-monopoly has been a proxy for the shortcomings of the wider economy for some time. Its recovery adds to the tentative investor optimism that marked the formation of a new coalition government in June. Households have now enjoyed the longest run of power since the energy crisis started in 2008, a key milestone in a population that’s become accustomed to false dawns. Fixing Eskom has been a top priority for years and, if it stays on track, that bodes well for other policy proposals in 2025. The unity government is seeking to cut joblessness — among the highest in economies tracked by Bloomberg — and boost economic growth (that’s limped at less than 1% annually over the past decade). It plans 4.8 trillion rand ($261 billion) of upgrades to the nation’s decaying infrastructure to drive the expansion, and needs a consistent power supply for that to happen. But Eskom’s turnaround comes with provisos. It has about 90 billion rand in debt-service commitments but generated less than half of that in earnings before deductions last year, according to Calib Cassim, its finance chief. The utility needs to halve its debt and double pre-tax profit to ease the burden on taxpayers, who’ve already shouldered a 254 billion rand bailout. That’s a tall task. The mammoth investment required over the next decade — 1.4 trillion rand for generation, transmission and distribution — requires it to collect more revenue. But efforts to recoup billions of rand it’s owed by municipal customers are failing. Also, years of long hours coping without power and inflation-busting price increases have spurred consumers to find alternatives, mostly solar, further limiting income. Eskom has no choice but to improve so that it can — in the words of Chief Executive Officer Dan Marokane — “hand on heart indicate to South Africans that we are the most prudent operator.” Failure may leave South Africa’s economy treading water for another dark decade. — Ana Monteiro Key stories and opinion:
South Africa Utility Eskom Forecasts First Profit Since 2017
Eskom Risk Premium Falls as Turnaround Wins Over Bond Investors
South Africa Sees Breakthrough as Ramaphosa Reforms Win S&P Nod
South Africa Passes Seven-Month Mark Without A Single Blackout
South Africa’s Hope Should Not Be Wasted (Again): Justice Malala Post-election protests rocking Mozambique since late October have interrupted trade and hampered a major aluminum smelter, with the southeast African nation braced for more disruption next week. Its Constitutional Council is set to validate the disputed vote by Dec. 23 and opposition leader Venâncio Mondlane has called for more demonstrations, depending on the outcome. The deadly unrest has already delayed 24 ships and caused six to cancel entry to the country’s biggest port in Maputo. Meanwhile, outgoing President Filipe Nyusi contacted Mondlane and the two spoke for more than an hour.  A tuktuk with a political poster and an upside down Mozambican flag in Maputo on Nov. 29. Photographer: Kang-Chun Cheng/Bloomberg The UK doesn’t plan to hand more money to Mauritius in a deal covering the future of the Chagos Islands, including a key military base, despite the new Mauritian government’s push for improved terms. In an agreement in October with the former Mauritian administration, the UK ceded sovereignty of the archipelago while retaining control for 99 years of one of the islands, Diego Garcia, that’s the site of a strategically important UK-US military base. A flu-like illness (initially dubbed “Disease X”) that’s sickened hundreds of people in the Democratic Republic of Congo is a mix of diseases common in the region that have morphed into severe forms in a population weakened by hunger. Health authorities have two working hypotheses: severe malaria or a viral infection, both against a background of malnutrition. The bulk of the more than 500 cases since October are in children younger than five years, who have been weakened by a lack of food.  A closeup of a mosquito. Photographer: Olympia de Maismont/AFP/Getty Images Ghana’s top court dismissed a case filed against a tough anti-LGBTQ bill, bringing the proposed legislation closer to becoming law. The dismissal is the latest blow to the LGBTQ community, which has in recent years seen rights curtailed across Africa. Uganda last year endorsed a law that prescribes the death sentence for some offenses while Kenya and Tanzania have also taken steps against LGBTQ people. In Ghana, the president must now decide whether to sign it into law. Senegal’s capital shot to the top of an index that measures how poor air quality is in major cities after a cloud of dust brought by winds from the Sahara Desert engulfed the country’s north. A gauge compiled by IQAir scored Dakar at 392 on Wednesday, displacing mega cities such as New Delhi and Dhaka for the worst air quality that day. Dust cloaked the West African nation’s biggest city, restricting visibility, choking its inhabitants and discouraging its sizable fishing community from venturing out to sea.  Children play on a beach under a cloud of dust and pollution in Dakar. Photographer: John Wessels/AFP/Getty Images Congo filed lawsuits against Apple in France and Belgium accusing the company of using minerals “pillaged” from the central African nation in its products. Its lawyers have initiated criminal complaints against the US tech giant’s units in the two European countries “over the contamination of Apple’s supply chain” with “blood minerals.” Eastern Congo, rich in minerals widely used in electronics, has been wracked by conflicts involving its armed forces and dozens of militant groups for three decades. Despite its rich history and stunning landscapes, Algeria has only recently started to open up to tourism. It now hopes a visa-on-arrival program will lure 12 million annual visitors by 2030. Sarah Khan visits the North African country. Next Africa Quiz — Which African country issued an arrest warrant in the past week for its former central bank governor? Send your answers to gbell16@bloomberg.net. The result will be in our next edition on Dec. 31. Data Watch - Nigeria’s annual inflation rate climbed to 34.6% in November, a more than 28-year high, raising expectations that its central bank will extend an unprecedented tightening cycle into next year.
- Zambia will immediately receive about $184 million from the International Monetary Fund after the lender’s board approved the fourth review of an extended credit facility.
- Tyme Group, a digital lender controlled by South African billionaire Patrice Motsepe, was valued at $1.5 billion in a fundraising, making it one of Africa’s few unicorns.
- A family trust linked to Koos Bekker — one of South Africa’s richest people — sold about €156 million of shares in internet investing giant Prosus to fund building operations at hotels in South Africa, the UK and Italy.
Coming Up - Dec. 23 Mauritius third-quarter unemployment data
- Dec. 26 Zambia GDP data for the third quarter, inflation for December & the trade balance for November, Egypt interest-rate decision
 Bloomberg West Africa Reporter Katarina Hoije joins Jennifer Zabasajja to explain why the countries led by military juntas in West Africa want to leave the regional bloc Ecowas. | 
