A change in attitude is needed to keep building, writes Maya Fisher-French.
With his popularity waning, ANC president Jacob Zuma faces a series of hurdles.
Deliberations over power utility Eskom’s proposed 53% tariff hike are ongoing, the National Energy Regulator of South Africa said on Friday.
Eskom’s rapid spending to beat the electricity crisis is spreading largesse in high places.
Diesel use in South Africa, driven by home generators and the trucking of coal to Eskom power stations
South Africa’s Cabinet has approved the country’s nuclear policy, enabling the controversial technology to play a greater role in alleviating a critical power shortage.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) said on Thursday it would intensify strikes already planned for July if the interest rate is increased later in the day.
South Africa’s power crisis poses a threat to economic growth and the government’s efforts to reduce unemployment and poverty, Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka said on Monday.
Unplanned power cuts at very short notice may be a possibility this winter, Eskom said on Wednesday.
The National Energy Regulator of South Africa has quietly postponed its final decision on Eskom’s application for a 53% tariff hike to June 18. By Thursday the regulator had not yet posted notice of the change in its decision date on its website, despite the conclusion of this week’s public hearings into the proposed tariff increases.
After almost 40 institutions had denounced Eskom’s proposed 53% tariff increase, it was up to the power utility’s CEO on Thursday to convince the regulator why the massive hike was necessary. Eskom chief executive Jacob Maroga was due to be the last speaker after three days of public hearings in Pretoria on the proposed tariff increase.
South Africa’s electricity crisis will remain for years and power cuts will continue well into the future, Eskom said on Thursday. ”We are going to be in this [crisis] for years,” Eskom CEO Jacob Maroga said in Johannesburg. ”The threat of load-shedding is with us for some time.” Eskom has struggled to meet demand for electricity in Africa’s biggest economy.
Labour and business agreed on Tuesday that Eskom’s proposed 53% tariff increase would have a severe impact on the economy. ”Pricing is not the only solution; effective leadership and strategic appropriation of management is important,” said Business Unity South Africa.
Japanese engineering and heavy machinery maker Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is reportedly considering a ¥10-billion (R746,5-million) investment in South Africa’s Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (PBMR). The investment would buy the Japanese company a stake of about 10% in PBMR.
Eskom’s proposed 53% tariff increase will have a negative effect on the economy, Business Unity South Africa (Busa) said on Tuesday. Speaking at the second day of public hearings of the National Energy Regulator of South Africa, Busa’s Roger Baxter said studies had shown the economic impact of the hike would lead to about 55Â 000 job losses.
The question of whether the government or the public should finance Eskom dominated the first day of hearings on Friday on the utility’s proposed 53% tariff increase. Eskom’s non-executive chairperson Valli Moosa opened the debate at the National Energy Regulator of South Africa public hearings, saying fiscal injections from government were needed.
Uncontrollable and unpredictable fuel and capital costs were key principals in the proposed 53% electricity tariff increase, Eskom chief executive Jacob Maroga said on Friday. ”The volatility that we see we cannot absorb as a company,” Maroga said at the National Energy Regulator of South Africa’s public hearings in Pretoria.
Eskom warned on Thursday that it might be forced to resume load shedding as its electricity grid was under renewed pressure. Eskom has struggled to meet demand for electricity in Africa’s biggest economy, resulting in power failures which forced key mines to halt production for five days in January.
The African National Congress and its labour allies called on Friday for electricity prices to rise only gradually, rejecting the state power firm’s appeal for a sharp hike to solve a dire power crisis. ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe said it would be wrong for Eskom to use price rises to recover from past losses.
South Africa’s economy cannot afford a sharp electricity price increase, a leader of the African National Congress (ANC) said on Friday, adding that Eskom should not be allowed to use pricing to make up past losses. As part of efforts to tackle power shortages and fund infrastructure expansion, Eskom has requested a 53% increase in electricity tariffs.
Demands from various quarters that South Africa stop its electricity exports to neighbouring countries amounted to ”economic xenophobia”, Public Enterprises Minister Alec Erwin said on Wednesday. Eskom’s customers outside South Africa would be treated exactly like any other customer with the same rights, and this would remain so.
Eskom said on Wednesday that South Africa’s power supply remained limited and electricity prices were set to rise steadily. ”The system is still tight and vulnerable,” Eskom spokesperson Andrew Etzinger said in a presentation. ”Electricity prices are going to go up steadily.”
April saw a saving of up to 7% in electricity demand, Eskom’s chief executive, Jacob Maroga, said on Monday. He briefed President Thabo Mbeki and a presidential special joint working group on the current state of electricity supply in the country, the Presidency said in a statement.
A national task team to urgently achieve the reductions required to reduce load-shedding and to achieve targeted power savings has been established, power utility Eskom said on Friday. This was done during Friday’s briefing set up by the government to help manage the energy emergency.
Thousands of members of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) took to the streets of Johannesburg to protest against the rising prices of food, fuel and electricity. The march proceeded to the offices of Eskom and supermarket chain Pick n Pay, where memorandums of understanding were delivered.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) warned on Monday of riots as it launched a protest campaign against soaring food prices. Rice prices on world markets have climbed about 75% in just two months, and the cost of wheat has rocketed by 120% in the past year. The price of maize has more than doubled since the beginning of 2006.
There is an urgent need to double electricity prices over the next two years, Eskom tells the National Electricity Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) in its recent application for a tariff hike. Nersa made an edited version of Eskom’s application available on its website on Tuesday.
The Democratic Alliance and trade union Solidarity want Eskom to release a full, unedited report of its application for a 53% tariff increase, they said on Tuesday. The application was due to have been published at noon on Tuesday on the website of the National Energy Regulator of South Africa.
Eskom’s bid to have parts of its 53% tariff-increase application withheld from the public is to protect its position in ”hardcore” coal sales deals, the company said on Tuesday. Eskom spokesperson Andrew Etzinger said that without this stance, the company might have to pay more for coal, pushing the price of electricity up even more.
Eskom has signed a five-year agreement to import an additional 250MW of power from Mozambique’s Cahora Bassa hydroelectric dam, the company announced on Monday. ”We are trying to squeeze as much capacity out of every resource,” said Eskom spokesperson Andrew Etzinger. The agreement was signed on Thursday April 3.
South Africa’s power crisis may last many years unless there is a drop in demand for electricity, utility Eskom said on Wednesday. A reduction in consumption should not damage the economy, it added. Eskom is rationing power to households and reduced supply to big industrial customers from January after the energy grid came close to collapse.
In the latest blow to South Africans already reeling from scheduled load-shedding, entire cities will now be plunged into darkness as Eskom institutes even more extreme power cuts. The shock development, which will be known as sector-sharing, will see the country divided into four vertical zones, each spanning many thousands of square kilometres.