KZN must wake up to gas capabilities, says Ramokgopa’s adviser

KwaZulu-Natal needs to bolster its gas capabilities if it wants to do its bit to curb the power challenges gripping the country.

This was the word from Silas Zimu, special adviser to electricity minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, at the KZN Growth Coalition's 18th annual dialogue in Durban on Friday.

“As the Eastern Cape and Western Cape are good in wind, while the Northern Cape is good in solar, KZN has to wake up to its gas capabilities. We are importing gas from Mozambique ... if KZN can speed up the programme of gas to power we won't need to import power,” said Zimu.

He argued that KwaZulu-Natal infrastructural transmissions were unrivalled, but said lines from Dundee to Empangeni were underused and more power could be funnelled to Gauteng. Zimu added that more than 60% of Eskom-generated power remained in Gauteng, hence grid challenges in the Northern Cape, Eastern Cape and Western Cape.

“This is another opportunity. This country never invested in the private sector. All power stations were planned [and developed] by Eskom and put into commercial operation by the private sector,” said Zimu, adding that this was evidenced by how power stations were maintained.

“If you look at a number of employees per power station, where for every 300 Eskom employees you have 600 private contractors, that coalition should be improved.”

“Let the private sector come and do the work”, Zimu said.

After his appointment, Zimu assisted Ramokgopa in the “mammoth task” of visiting 18 power stations.

“What we found was that there was a high level of outages at our power stations. High-level of partial load losses. Things that could be solved if people started working on them,” he said, adding that the top five performers were led by women.

“They are clever. They employed former white power station managers as their engineering managers. This was critical to ensure that the knowledge was kept.”

Compounding Eskom's challenges was low staff morale, often characterised by disgruntled unions who did not want to engage with management. However, with the country moving from stage six to stage three load-shedding, this had been boosted., he said.

“There are now 47,000MW installed and about 30,000MW working currently. Without renewables and gas we have enough, But if you look at our population growth, every 40 years South Africa's population doubles.” It was therefore essential to plan ahead, something that had been “forgotten since 2009" and hence the country was reaping the consequences.

Speaking at the event, provincial police commissioner Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi said the country's laws were sometimes barriers in dealing with business-related crime.

He cited the proliferation of guns and mushrooming of informal settlements as among challenges the police faced.

“The question is why there are so many squatter camps? The reason for that is because business is not interested in establishing in smaller towns and rural areas. They are not interested in running factories there,” said Mkhwanazi, adding that this accelerated the migration of people to cities.

“When they arrive they do not have ... roofs over their heads. They then commit crime, [creating a burden on the business community] and the police.”

Mkhwanazi said establishing businesses outside cities would stem rising crime and assist law-enforcement personnel.

Despite these challenges there were successes, with department of correctional services (DCS) commissioner Mnikelwa Nxele saying of 24,000 inmates, 18,000 had been convicted.

“As long as our people struggle to find jobs we will always struggle with crime,” said Nxele. Though the department was doing its bit to equip inmates with much-needed skills, some ex-prisoners often faced challenges as a result of their criminal records.

“The DCS is not a dustbin, but a correctional facility,” said Nxele, adding that there were plans to look into expunging some convicts' criminal records, making it easier for them to find jobs.

Acting eThekwini metro commissioner Sibonelo Mchunu bemoaned his metro's poor budget.

“We are often thought of as an afterthought during budgets,” said Mchunu.

Meanwhile, economic development, tourism and environmental affairs minister Sboniso Duma assured business KwaZulu-Natal remained a sound investment destination.

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