Load shedding crisis: Some experts approached, but ‘none have been taken into service’

While South Africa stumbles in the dark over load shedding, Minister Pravin Gordhan’s department of public enterprises (DPE) says Eskom “is in the process of finalising its plans to take further urgent steps to stabilise the power station’s performance and reliability”.

The last time Gordhan had a plan was in 2019, when he presented a “nine step plan” – which never materialised.

Both Gordhan and President Cyril Ramaphosa have acknowledged Stage 6 rolling blackouts were a problem, with Ramaphosa saying ”… the actions we have taken, and continue to take, are not enough to get the country out of the energy crisis with immediate effect”.

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The President announced five actions as well as “additional measures to achieve long-term energy security and end load shedding for good” last year, while the DPE also pleaded for a list of skilled power experts to address the crisis at Eskom, which also never materialised.

‘We should be getting all hands on deck’

Connie Mulder, head of Solidarity’s research institute, confirmed since the handover of the list to the minister and Eskom some experts had been approached, “but none have actually been taken into service”.

“Now, this is something that worries us a lot, given the country’s energy crisis and the dire situation, we should be getting all hands on deck and anyone who can possibly help should be busy with doing that,” Mulder explained.

“If the department wants to play politics once again with power, then that’s their cause. But we (South Africans) are not in the business of playing politics for these types of things, because we should be trying to solve the crisis.”

He also said the newest plan by the president and the National Energy Crisis Committee, “which is the third or the fourth time we’ve been promised load shedding will end in 12 to 18 months in the last 16 years of load shedding we are extremely skeptical about this plan”.

“We don’t think it’s been conceived well, and we don’t think it will work. Ultimately, the only way out of this is adding more generation capacity, and the only way we can do this is by getting private generation up and running,” he added.

Ramaphosa’s plan for load shedding

However, the DPE’s Richard Mantu insisted “everything possible is being done to end or minimise load shedding,” and said all hands were already on deck working on the energy crisis plan.

“We’re implementing the energy crisis plan and all stake holders are working together on this, but if you want specifics speak to Eskom,” he said.

Senior Researcher at the Centre of Risk Analysis Chris Hattingh agreed with Mulder and said whether it was the current ten-point crisis plan, Gordhan’s plan or even Ramaphosa’s plan to address the energy crisis, they have all fallen flat, while some did not even get to the implementation stages.

“We can play devil’s advocate and say, government is trying and the plan is being put in place, but at the end of the day, the proof is in the pudding,” he noted.

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“South Africans sit without power for how many hours a day, and that means they have little prospects for maybe getting a job, and they can’t put food on the table for their families. It means less economic activity going on.”

“So we need to start seeing action versus, different plans being promised.”

Hattingh said “all these plans were putting pressure on government and Eskom, increasing the risk of things not happening and going wrong, and failing to cater to all the interest groups, then delaying implementation”.

“Eskom is still trying to be the monopoly provider of electricity and it just can’t keep up,” he added.

“And then you’ve also just got the issue around different procurement lines, this is unfortunately the negative consequence of state capture, certain contracts were awarded for coal mines which shouldn’t have been awarded.”

Meanwhile, the Department of Small Business Development was also working on an energy relief package for the Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs) with stakeholders to alleviate the devastating impact of load shedding on small businesses.

-reitumetsem@citizen.co.za