During the Last Supper, Jesus said that before the cock crows for a third time, one of the disciples would have denied any knowledge of him.
On this biblical note I am reminded that King Moshoeshoe transformed the missionary monologue preaching by opening it into dialogue and debate where the likes of Casalis and Arbousset had to answer questions posed by chiefs, warriors and rand and rile, amongst them Mara and warrior Makoanyane.
Through this King Moshoeshoe transformed the sermon into an engagement and allowed no soliloquy.
Professor Sampson Mamphweli, in his response to my interview regarding the apology President Cyril Ramaphosa made to the nation about load shedding, volunteered that Komati power station’s demise had gone past its Methuselah moment.
The president of the Republic had to, once again, cancel his international trip.
This time, it was a trip to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Geneva.
And all because of load shedding.
In his address, Ramaphosa apologised to the nation.
My interview on the matter about the load shedding Ramaphosa seems to have rubbed Mamphweli the wrong way.
He went for the jugular and avoided all the facts about the life expectancy of power stations, facts that are observed across the world and in South Africa.
In this regard, evidence shows that the decision to either shut or leave power stations operating is not about their life expectancy but rather about strategic choices.
The choice about Komati power station in Mpumalanga was made in 2007, when load shedding occurred.
Since then, the plant has been operating until a strategic choice was made about shutting it, under the guise of the Just Energy Transition.
It was shut last year, as part of a strategic choice of abandoning coal for renewable energy.
Mamphweli asserts instead that Komati was shut because it reached the end of its lifespan. The assertion has been disputed by international evidence of power stations in operation. Some of these have been running for more than a century, especially in former Soviet Union Republics, across the world more generally and in South Africa. This includes Komati itself.
Former power station operators, such as Jacob Maroga, Matshela Koko, are on record disputing the facts around the lifespan of power stations. Against this scientific evidence from observations about power stations globally and from those who ran power stations, Mamphweli wants me to acquiesce to his science, that by the third crow of the cock, Komati would have confirmed his thesis of collapse. But the reason for shutting Komati was just strategic – to meet the Just Energy Transition requirements.
Last year, Eskom, in its obituary of the closure of Komati, said it would not have a significant impact on the national electricity grid as the remaining unit was contributing only 121MW. However, we may not be surprised if it rises from the dead and make its third coming as the energy crisis deepens. The good professor must watch the space.
In the middle of all the evidence and arguments, the professor pulls a rabbit out of his reasoning tool box, that my arguments are good for hankering fame on the big screen.
On defunding Eskom, the professor claims that Eskom has not been defunded, and the reason he puts for this is that as I was not in the Eskom War Room and therefore would have not known what was discussed. But the defunding of Eskom is well documented, especially in the state capture years, transforming it from a top-notch entity to one running with a begging bowl today.
The climax is reached when the professor concludes that I hate Ramaphosa, and goes into a professorial soliloquy of asking himself why that is so. The solipsism of Mamphweli astonishes. It reminded me of the writings of Lenin on the Solipsism of Mach, and Avenarius in his Materialism and Empirio-criticism - Critical Comments on a Reactionary Philosophy.
My comments on the apology are simply about his performance in the rational deployment of legitimate power that is bestowed upon him. The president and his predecessor are on record as saying load shedding was history. The question is: What was the basis for such an announcement? If questioning means hating, according to Mamphweli’s soliloquy, rather then I hate and follow King Moshoeshoe’s transformative strategy from soliloquy of sermons into an enriching and informative debate.
Dr Pali Lehohla is the director of the Economic Modelling Academy, a professor of practice at the University of Johannesburg, a research associate at Oxford University, a board member of the Institute for Economic Justice at Wits and a distinguished alumni of the University of Ghana. He is the former statistician-general of South Africa.
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