LAST Tuesday we were informed that “the grid was severely constrained”, Eskom-speak for another series of major stuff-ups, and that some 15 000 megawatts of generation capacity was out of operation. This equates to the outage of 25 major generating units, or 4 complete power stations. The situation is not one of incompetence or ineptitude, but simple irresponsibility on the part of senior management to prevent the inexorable slide into the twilight of candle power. The tipping point towards total grid failure creeps ever closer as we will soon have more capacity out of operation than supplying power, and Nero still plays his electric fiddle (supposedly in the US) while Megawatt Park burns.
On the side of last Wednesday’s news bulletin on load shedding, we learned that the chief culprits of inoperability are Majuba, a youthful 15 years old, and Duvha, previously an exemplary operation until the infamous turbine explosion, but only today’s Eskom could bring good operations to their knees. Now the utter folly of refurbishing the three 1960s vintage power stations (definitely old and tired), is very obvious, apart from the cost of many billions of rands for little additional power. Maybe Camden, Grootvlei and Komati are used as training schools for would-be engineers, but they also consume the skills of valuable, experienced staff needed to keep the principal power stations operational: one of those stations provides more power than all 3 of the antique plants. That folly was then compounded by a crass inability to import power from independent power producers (IPPs) who could make significant contributions to the grid but, one suspects, are unwilling to negotiate the political minefields in their way.
The most corrosive aspect of the whole saga is Eskom’s inability to provide the country with the bare truth, as uncomfortable as that might be.
And, hidden behind the latest half-truths, there was the quiet announcement that the first unit of Kusile is now planned to come on-stream in early 2017 (instead of 2016), and we can safely bet the house on that date sliding another year before power is finally delivered. No reasons for the delay were given, just like no reason was given for the grid being “constrained”, almost as if it suffers from electrical constipation; the grid is not “constrained”, only the ability of those responsible for supplying it with power. The country needs and deserves the truth. After all, it does pay the massive bill for what is becoming a passable imitation of Monty Python’s Flying Circus!
Roger Toms
Hout Bay
The bottomless pit
SAA continues to record losses. The company again showed operating losses of R374 million. SAA wants to cancel flights to its less lucrative routes like China and cut staff as a cost-cutting measure.
This has been implemented many times before, but the balance sheet continues to show huge losses. Government continues to use the people’s money to bail out the parastatal.
SAA is technically bankrupt. The only way they are keeping afloat is via state-guaranteed loans which the Treasury increased to R14.4 billion last month… yes R14.4 billion. A loan is a liability that is normally paid back. How much has SAA put back into the state coffers when making losses every year has become a habit?
SAA has become an obnoxious liability which needs to be privatised. The billions of rands saved can be utilised to provide services in the townships, thereby quelling service delivery protests. Some of the billions can be put to use in fighting crime and corruption.
An indaba needs to be urgently convened to discuss the sale of SAA which is proving to be one of South Africa’s biggest liabilities.
Vijay Surujpal
Phoenix