Electricity and load shedding were the main topics of discussion at the Engagement with Captains of Industry Business Breakfast panel held in Durban on Friday.
The event was hosted by the MEC for Economic Development, Tourism, and Environmental Affairs, Siboniso Duma, and featured guests including Minister of Electricity Kgosientsho Ramokgopa and Nkumbuzi Ben-Mazwi, Acting Port Manager of Transnet National Ports Authority, among others.
Kicking off the event, Duma congratulated Ramokgopa on 52 consecutive days without load shedding in the country. According to Duma, this was the longest period the country has been without load shedding in two years.
Duma also touched on government designating the Richards Bay Industrial Development Zone as a site for energy infrastructure as well as the Combined Cycle Power Plant that will have a maximum capacity of 3,000 megawatts.
Speaking at the event, Ramokgopa said that when he was speaking with his wife, he told her that South Africa is possibly the only modern economy where people clap hands for having electricity.
“There is something fundamentally wrong there,” Ramokgopa said.
Ramokgopa said that electricity constraints is a major threat to the South African economy.
While discussing the issue of electricity, Ramokgopa said he sees himself less as an executive authority and more as someone assigned to work alongside the collective men and women of Eskom to address any challenges.
“Eskom gives us the quickest path to the resolution of load shedding. We have done nothing other than fix the machines,” Ramokgopa said.
According to Ramokgopa, when they received the money from the National Treasury, they identified six power stations that are responsible for 70% of the losses.
“We are generating more electricity than we use,” Ramokgopa said.
IOL Business