Author Mike McWilliams (right) combines a lively mind with his cultured pen. Mike’s previous contribution on Karoo fracking stimulated a different approach to a controversial subject. His piece today dissects Eskom’s Medupi disaster with the plea that South Africa’s chess-promoting President absorbs and applies the clear lessons. While the Humanities and even Big Business may be tolerant (at least temporarily) of incompetence born of Cadre Deployment, no such generosity is afforded by the laws of science. In the field of complex technology, compromising standards will always come at a price. – AH    Â
By Mike McWilliams
If there is one thing Jacob Zuma should be praised for, it is his personal ambition to promote chess among South African school children.
If there is anything that causes mayhem in his government and its pitiful efforts at service delivery, it is the lack of foresight in its deployed cadres.
The study of chess when young would certainly aid in instilling mental habits in adulthood that would allow a decision-maker to consider the consequences of making a move, before it is committed to.
It is always easy in hindsight to criticize decisions, or non-decisions, such as Thabo Mbeki refusing to build new power stations when he was warned of the impending disaster of not doing so. This is water under the bridge, but this type of thinking indicates perhaps, that Thabo was no chess master, despite his excellence in knowledge of matters medical.
However foresight is a very different kettle of fish, or in this case, boiler of fish.
The decision by Eskom to cut short the international standard tests of boiler performance, because the current Medupi steam boiler cannot come up to pressure, turbulence and cleanliness specifications is a case in point.
Now, I am no expert on power generation, so my knowledge is on a par with most of Eskom management, my opinion therefore is based simply on common sense and a small degree of foresight.
Ignoring for the moment, the corrupt tender awards to the ANC themselves, and all the inbuilt quality control problems this brings, we need to look at the status quo right now.
Medupi has been plagued by many glitches and technical blunders, not least of which is the need to re-weld all the boiler welds because unskilled workers were used to do a skilled job. You may get away with this in parliament, but when physical science and technology are concerned, it is the kiss of death to a project.
The tests Eskom is discarding are designed to clear a boiler of slag and debris left  in the system during construction. These international standard tests were designed with first-world boiler construction in mind, never mind boilers that have been welded badly, then re-welded, sometimes more than once. One doesn’t need to be even a weak chess club player to imagine that, if any boilers really needed proper clean-out testing, it is Medupi’s boilers.
Furthermore, Eskom management are blaming the design of temporary piping for the lack of pressure attained within the system. I think it far more likely that it is the low performance of the ANC tendered botched boilers or the welding elsewhere in the circuit that is preventing the adequate performance of the equipment.
Be that as it may, whatever the cause for the non-achievement of the requisite specifications, what is apparent to anyone with any foresight, is that trouble is coming down the line. And it is coming in a big and expensive way.
The steam flow is going to be very dirty once everything is finally connected and fired up. The dirt in the steam will very quickly damage the steam valves and the turbines downstream. These are very expensive components and furthermore, take a long time to replace if they fail.
This means that Medupi will fail expensively, shortly after commissioning and what’s worse, the component suppliers of the steam valves and turbines will have a watertight explanation as to why they are not liable for the failure of their equipment. The necessary tests were not run and the steam was not brought to the requisite measure of cleanliness before starting up the plant.
Thus Eskom will have an unworkable power station without any recourse to contractors for redress.
Now is the time for Grand Master Jacob to give some lessons to his pawns at Eskom so that they know a stale-mate when it bites them on the bum.
* Mike McWilliams, a member of the Biznews Community, has been married for 33 years and has three sons. Born in Johannesburg, schooled at Marist Brothers Inanda and St. Charles Pietermaritzburg he was a paratrooper in SADF and the captain of the SA Parachuting Team which won the Bronze Medal in the World Championships. Author of “The Battle for Cassinga”, his career has ranged from TV News cameraman to national marketing manager of Peugeot and running his own design consultancy. His hobbies are opera, hunting and classical music.
