2023 has not been the fresh start many of us were expecting. Instead, we got more of the same unresolved issues locally and abroad.
For starters, the war in Ukraine has been waged for nearly 12 months with no end in sight. Israel sanctioned the Palestinian Authority for its request to seek an advisory opinion by the International Criminal Court for Israel’s occupation. Amongst all that, Islamophobia is openly expressed in Europe by the leader of the right-wing political party Hard Line, Rasmus Paludan, as he burned the Holy Quran in front of the Turkish embassy in Stockholm.
Locally, we’ve seen reports of an escaped tiger in Midvaal, south of Johannesburg, on Saturday. And no, this is not a movie. It happened.
Sheba, the eight-year-old tiger, escaped a compromised enclosure until a few days later when authorities located the tigress in Walkerville. Since it was not possible to capture the tiger, a decision was made to euthanise the animal as it began to roam near populated areas.
Ultimately January belonged to Eskom. The power utility announced that South Africans should expect load-shedding for the next two years to repair power stations, expand the grid and increase their Energy Availability Factor with the help of private energy producers.
The power utility hopes to end the scourge of load-shedding. We’ve heard that before.
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Permanent Load-shedding for Two Years
After enduring years of load-shedding and over 200 days in 2022 of scheduled blackouts, Eskom announced that South Africans should expect outages for the next two years. An announcement which was not surprising.
Eskom plans to gradually overhaul its damaged fleet and roll out various energy-producing strategies to increase the EAF within the next two years.
On the upside, through the announcement, Eskom offered predictability to South Africans, businesses and investors so they may better prepare for the rolling blackouts.
The downside, NERSA is expected to hike electricity prices by more than 18% and 12%. They start from the 1 of April of this year and have an anticipated increase in April next year. However, the President of South Africa has urged Eskom to halt the 18% tariff increase.
The Effects of Load-shedding on the Farming Industry
Load-shedding has had a crippling effect on the South African economy. Not only has it negatively affected households, but it also played a role in the foreclosure of numerous businesses. Now, its effect is threatening the country’s food security.
Due to load-shedding, farmers find it difficult to sufficiently irrigate their produce. As a result of insufficient irrigation South Africa is on the brink of a potato shortage.
And sure enough, alternative power solutions are an option for residential households and larger farms. However, the cost involved in an independent power supply is not an option for small-scale farmers who depend on their production output.
The only solution is for farmers to be exempt from load-shedding entirely. Various farming organisations met with the Minister of Agriculture, Angela Thoko Didiza, to discuss their concerns and find workable solutions to the crisis.
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The March to Luthuli House
On the 25 of January, the DA marched to express their dissatisfaction with the ruling party, their role in Eskom’s downfall and load-shedding.
Did they march to the offices of Eskom to discuss these issues? No, they did not. Instead, the official opposition marched to the lion’s den. They marched to Luthuli House in Johannesburg, where they were met with a wall of ANC supporters, who viewed the demonstration as an old-school turf war.
The march was meant to express the growing frustrations the South African public felt regarding load-shedding. Moreover, it was meant to oppose the NERSA price hike, which would see South Africans pay more for fewer electricity units.
However, some analysts suggest the march to the ANC headquarters was nothing more than a publicity stunt to kick off their general election campaign.
In conclusion, Eskom intends to use these two years to implement various solutions to the energy crisis, not only affecting South Africans but businesses and the country’s potential for foreign investment.
However, with Eskom’s track record, many South Africans are not holding their breath as rooting out fraud and corruption is just as important as maintenance on the power utility fleet. And given the nationwide impact it could have on the country’s food supply, the need to resolve the problems at Eskom becomes even more significant.
To end on a positive note, Andre De Ruyter ended speculation of surpassing stage 8 load-shedding by saying the possibility of reaching the highest stage is gradually receding. This, however, does not mean it cannot happen.
