EDITORIAL INSIGHT
LO ENGINEERING NEWS | December 8–14, 2017 7
The estimated jobs in
millions that could be
created in South Africa
over a ten-year period if
a series of reforms, out-
lined in the Manufacturing
Circle’s ‘Map to a Million
New Jobs in a Decade’
report, is implemented.The amount in trillion
rands that South African
businesses contributed
to the country’s gross
domestic product in
2016, according to a
report commissioned by
Business Leadership
South Africa.FACTSINFIGURES
“We are saying that business is the answer, not the enemy.”- Business Leadership South Africa CE Bonang Mohale,
commenting on a report, which the organisation
commissioned economic consultancy firm Quantec
Research to compile, showing the significant contribution
made by South African business to the country’s gross
domestic product
“This mixture of weak growth and rising debt – the two concerns
repeatedly flagged by ratings agencies – suggests that South
Africa must increasingly be wary of possible further downgrades
to its sovereign ratings.”- South African Reserve Bank deputy governor Daniel
Mminele, warning that South Africaʼs failure to stabilise the
countryʼs fiscal situation could result in its credit rating
being downgraded deep into junk territory
SPEAKOUT
SHEILA BARRADAS | CREAMER MEDIA RESEARCH COORDINATOR & SENIOR DEPUTY EDITORSHEILA BARRADAS | CREAMER MEDIA RESEARCH COORDINATOR & SENIOR DEPUTY EDITORForced self-correction
I COULD NOT AGREE MORE with Energy Minister David
Mahlobo’s recent Parliamentary reply, in which he stated that
there was no longer a need to build large power generation
units, owing to the availability of low-cost smaller generation
alternatives.
In response to Economic Freedom Fighters MP Mzingisi
Dlamini’s question why he was “seemingly in a rush to expedite a
nuclear energy deal that South Africa cannot afford”, the Minister
dismissed any notion of unseemly haste and, quite startlingly,
acknowledged the risk of building “stranded assets” in light of a
decoupling of economic growth from electricity demand.
Such decoupling was attributed partly to the fact that energy-
intensive users were embracing energy-efficient technologies and
partly to the changing structure of the South African economy,
where the increasing role of services was reducing the economy’s
previous energy-intensive profile. As a consequence, electricity
demand from the national grid was becoming more difficult to
forecast.
“This necessitates a more frequent revision of the Integrated
Resource Plan (IRP). Otherwise, we may end up building infra-
structure that will not be optimally used, that is, stranded,”
Mahlobo admitted, while indicating that a revised IRP would soon
be placed before Cabinet for its concurrence.
He then went on to say: “The low cost of smaller generation
units makes it easy, as we now do not have to build large units,
that is, infrastructure build programmes must be implemented
in a modular manner so that they can respond to changes in the
market”.
The problem is that this remarkably sensible response bore little
or no resemblance to sentiments expressed by Mahlobo in an
exclusive interview with The New Age newspaper, published,
ironically, on the very same day that the Minister’s official reply
to Dlamini was distributed through the Parliamentary communi-
cation service.
In that interview, Mahlobo said the following: “There’s no dis-
cussion about the need [for nuclear] – the need is there, but do you
know what the debate is? The debate is about people who want
to influence where the nuclear deal goes.”
The Minister then appealed for a “decent debate” about nuclear
energy that was free from obfuscation.
In reality, there is no need for such a debate, as the technical
(nonpoliticised) IRP drafting process has already amply demon-
strated that there is simply no need for a large-scale nuclear build
programme, owing to the availability of several other cheaper and
less risky options.
Sadly, this least-cost outcome does not suit certain power-
ful interests and, after a con-
siderable panel beating of the
underlying assumptions, a
nuclear new build programme
has indeed been ‘forced’ into
the IRP scenarios that will go
before Cabinet. That being the
case, it will again lie with civil
society and the courts to ensure
‘forced self-correction’.SMOKING GUN: Against all odds, the Portfolio Committee on Public
Enterprises has done a remarkable job in peeling back the layers of
State Capture at the country’s power utility. However, former Eskom
chairperson Zola Tsotsi arguably provided the ‘smoking gun’, with
testimony linking President Jacob Zuma directly to the capture project.
Tsotsi narrated how disgraced former South African Airways chairperson
Dudu Myeni, acting as Zuma’s proxy, called him to the Durban
Presidential residence in March 2015 to outline the suspension of
Eskom executives, which took place only days later.NUCLEAR