The port city of Durban and the wider KwaZulu-Natal province in eastern South Africa were besieged by the country’s worst flash flooding for decades in April. The manufacturing PMI — having soared to a record high of 60.0 in March — slumped to 50.7 in April, its lowest reading since the violent riots following former President Jacob Zuma’s arrest in July. Minister of Public Enterprises Pravin Gordhan has cautioned that Eskom could resort to stage 8 load shedding, which would entail blackouts for up to 12 hours a day, in order to avert a total collapse of the country’s electricity grid. South Africa’s economy picked up momentum in the first quarter of the year, but historic flooding in a key province and the threat of unprecedented power cuts are putting the brakes on its recovery.

Source: cnbc.com