https://borders.lwilsesamson.com/updates/ Laurence Wilse-Samson CC BY 4.0 2026-10-27T00:00:00Z https://borders.lwilsesamson.com/updates/#2026-10-27 2026-10-27T00:00:00Z ## What changed **[South Africa](/ideas/zaf-r-0001/).** - *Rules track.* No NERSA decision on the Market Code or the Trading Rules was found up to 26 October 2026, so the status stays at consultation. NERSA's homepage, read on 27 October, lists only one electricity-trading item: the trading platform consultation of 4 October, whose comments close on 31 October. The passed targets for the Market Code (31 July) and the Trading Rules (28 September and "September") stay recorded as passed with no outcome found, now checked to 27 October. - *Delivery track.* Still partly operating. No report that external trading on SAWEM has begun was found. **[Zambia](/ideas/zmb-r-0001/).** - *Delivery track.* A Green Building Africa report of 18 September 2026, citing Electron Intelligence's analysis of ERB registers, says that of the export demand registered with private suppliers, NTCSA "accounts for 100 MW of the 104.9 MW". The article gives no date or period for the registrations. This was a lead in cycle 1 and is now added as secondary evidence. The registers themselves have not been read, so the direction and size of any flow stay open. - *Rules track.* Still at consultation. The ERB's news pages to 16 October 2026 show no adoption of the seven operational documents, and the same report says the supporting rules on trading, metering, balancing and system operation "remained under consultation into 2026". It is added as secondary evidence. **[SAPP](/ideas/sapp-k-0001/) and [ZiZaBoNa](/ideas/sapp-p-0001/).** SAPP's market-reports page still ends at August 2026. The July and September 2026 market reports are not there. No financial close or construction start for ZiZaBoNa was found. ## What did not change - No status value changed on any track. - The headline figures are as before. - The open question of how much South Africa–Zambia trade the bottlenecks prevent is still unresolved. - This cycle covered the power-trade records only. The corridors, payments, Mozambique and West Africa records were not rechecked. https://borders.lwilsesamson.com/updates/#2026-10-16 2026-10-16T00:00:00Z ## What changed **[South Africa](/ideas/zaf-r-0001/).** - *Rules track.* Still Consulted, with the status date unchanged at 26 August 2026. NERSA also opened a consultation on 4 October 2026 on a regulatory framework for electricity trading platforms (comments to 31 October; hearing 19 November). That is a separate instrument, so it does not move the status date. - *Trading Rules deadline.* The earlier puzzle ("initially August 28") is explained by a first extension, from 29 July to 28 August, reported on 16 July. The original date still appears as 27 July in one report and 29 July in another. - *Trading Rules not finalised.* TechCentral reported on 6 October that the Trading Rules "have still not been finalised". - *Market Code.* No approval found. The new consultation paper's glossary refers to "the approved Market Code", but that is a definition, not a decision, and is recorded as such. - *Delivery track.* Still Partly operating. A Mining Weekly report of 30 September says SAWEM "is scheduled to begin operating in April 2027". It is added as a target, with the conflict noted: the report does not say whether "operating" means external trading. **[SAPP](/ideas/sapp-k-0001/).** July and September 2026 market reports are still not published. Two new SAPP documents were found: - The April to June 2026 quarterly report finds "no significant market distortions attributable to outage events". Its monthly reports for the same months place the main bottleneck at the Zimbabwe–Zambia interconnectors. Recorded as unreconciled. - The August 2026 system operations report says outages in the ZESA and NTCSA control areas "affected SAPP Trades". **[ZiZaBoNa](/ideas/sapp-p-0001/).** A press report says construction is "scheduled to begin in 2026", naming no source; it is added as a target. PIDA's database still gives the latest stage as financial close preparation (2019). No financial close or construction start was found. **[Zambia](/ideas/zmb-r-0001/).** No adoption of the seven operational documents was found in ERB news to 30 September 2026. A lead to check: a secondary analysis of ERB registers lists NTCSA as a buyer of 100 MW. ## What did not change - No status value changed on any track. - The headline figures are as before. - The open question of how much South Africa–Zambia trade the bottlenecks prevent is still unresolved.