By Alec Hogg
Seems I’m going to have to eat my words about the “dull” Cape Town Mining Indaba. This week’s 2023 edition is throwing up some beauts, including the fireside discussion between outgoing Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter and soon-to-depart Minerals Council CEO Roger Baxter. Perhaps the fact both are leaving their buildings had something to do with it.
In it De Ruyter reminded the world that Cyril Ramaphosa’s reform initiative is actually striding through SA’s bureaucratic treacle as rapidly as any rational mind could hope for. He highlighted the obstacle of getting the new State Transmission company off the ground – one of three parts of an unbundled Eskom. Without this leg, none of the others can go ahead. Shining such a public light on the problem may accelerate matters.
There is also some very real hope on the horizon. Shortly before his chat with Baxter, the Eskom CEO told Bloomberg TV (watch below) that although 2023 will be brutal, next year the first of 9 000MW in new private sector capacity will be added to the grid (thanks to Cyril’s reforms), plus another 4 500MW from Eskom’s own initiatives.
For context, Eskom’s comms director Sikonathi Mantshantsha reminds us daily, that SA’s daily peak demand is currently around 29 500MW with generation at 26 500MW – hence the need for 3 000MW in load-shedding. The additional supply De Ruyter refers to would reverse that shortfall. So, no, loadshedding won’t be until Judgement Day. For Ramaphosa, ending blackouts would help his party in 2024’s election.
Read more:
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- Russia in Africa: how Moscow bought a new sphere of influence on the cheap. Focusing on a strip of countries from Mali to Sudan, it is challenging the west and opening what some call a ‘second front’. Click here
- Mugabe Ratshikuni says we are yet to witness true cadre deployment in contemporary SA. Comrades, not cadres, are the problem. Click here
