To be recognized: a beneficial investment in the future of South Africa

The latest Afrobarometer survey, shows that less than half (43 percent) of Africans have a reliable supply of electricity. South Africa has had challenges providing stable electricity in the last decade, the energy availability factor decreased from 67.75 percent in 2017 to 65percent in 2020.

This has been the main reason for the national energy crisis that saw the country experiencing rolling power cuts since 2008. The power cuts are scheduled to last for the next 5 years.

According to the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) the load shedding is expected to continue for three years, depending on government decisions and actions.

 In January 2020, President Ramaphosa even stated that the country will allow firms and households to generate their own power.

It’s estimated that the loss to South Africa’s businesses and industries that battle with scheduled power cuts is about R1 billion per stage, per day. The economic losses due to power interruptions are estimated to cost between one and five percent of the GDP of countries across Sub-Saharan Africa.

Frequent and long-lasting power outages are thought to constrain the economic wellbeing of households and businesses by reducing the output from existing electrical appliances and discouraging investments in new welfare-improving ones^.

If you remember, in 2011 South Africa issued the largest tender in its history — an estimated one-trillion-rand contract to build six new nuclear reactors by 2030.

The project, in which France, China, South Korea, Russia and a joint United States-Japanese consortium were supposed to participate, could account for as much as 20 percent of the world’s total nuclear spending over the next two decades.

Recently Princy Mthombeni, a multi-award winning nuclear communication specialist and Africa4Nuclear Founder, posted a video on her TitkTok account remembering this case, which was referred to in the Business Day’s article - “ a R1-trillion nuclear deal that is beyond SA’s financial reach, says Pravin Gordhan”.

The two Non-Government Organisations (NGO) who opposed South Africa's 9600 MW nuclear build programme became winners of the Goldman environment prize in 2018. Earthlife Africa Johannesburg and SAFCEI (Southern African Faith Communities' Environment Institute) took the government to court which ruled that the decisions made (section 34 determinations) to procure nuclear are unlawful and unconstitutional and that they be set aside. Opponents believed the high cost of “R1-trillion” would cripple the country economically.

If Africa had made such an investment then it would have helped in elimination power shortages, bringing electricity and development opportunities to rural villages that have never enjoyed those benefits, stimulating industrial growth, creating entrepreneurs, and supporting increased prosperity across the continent. Proponents argue that it will greatly increase electrical base-load capacity and generate industrial growth.

Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy, Mr Gwede Mantashe, points out “in comparison to how much is spent on running coal-powered stations, [the] overall cost of nuclear energy makes nuclear a viable option”.

Now according to executive director of the South Africa’s Presidential Climate Commission, country's efforts to focus on renewables, battery storage, electric vehicles and setting up a green hydrogen economy would require funding of over four trillion rand by 2050, a top government official said in April this year^.

“We now need 6 trillion to implement just the energy transition strategy here in South Africa in the form of renewable energy” – says Princy Mthombeni.

Tackling today’s energy challenge on the continent, therefore, requires a firm commitment to the accelerated use of modern renewable energy sources. In the future, the amount of implementation of energy transfer strategy will continue to grow, but the problem will not be solved.

This is an investment where the starting cost will only grow due to the general economic situation. If South Africa doesn’t make a move, it will distance itself from its fellow-countries’ development. Making a contribution will help the prosperity of the region, increase its economy and the living standards of African people.