Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP (JD Supra South Africa)

Thursday, 15 February, 2018 ushered in a new dawn of possibilities for South Africans, with the swearing in of Cyril Ramaphosa as the country’s 5th President since its inaugural post-apartheid democratic election in 1994. What follows is the back-story to this historic and widely celebrated occurrence.

Rajen Ranchhoojee, Special Legal Counsel in Orrick’s Washington, D.C. office, recently spoke with inspiratia [subscription required] regarding news that the South African government may attempt to renegotiate tariffs for the 27 projects involved in rounds 3.5 and 4 of its much-delayed Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement (REIPPP) program.

On 3 April, 2017, S&P Global led the way in downgrading South Africa’s Sovereign Credit Rating to non-investment-grade ‘Junk’ status. This following President Zuma’s purging of his Cabinet on 31 March, 2017, in which a total of 20 ministers and deputy ministers were removed from their posts. Most notable was the unceremonious sacking of the Minister and Deputy Minister of Finance.

The increasing dynamism of the Sub-Saharan African economy coupled with the continent’s large financing needs have led Sub- Saharan African countries to consider alternative sources of external funding to finance their local development. Traditionally, Sub-Saharan African countries have recourse to classical forms of external financing such as multilateral and bilateral financing, commercial bank