Power play exposes role of state’s corrupt nuclear ‘family’
The economy’s prospects improved early on Tuesday when we learned that the country’s first two independent, privately owned coal-fired power stations had been given the go-ahead. Foreign interest in these projects, as suppliers of equipment, technology and necessary capital, was strong. Most important, the 863MW of additional power is to be delivered at an agreed wholesale price of 79c and 80c/KWh, plus inflation. Alas, later that morning, a further troubling scene in the opera buffa that has become SA’s fiscal affairs was played out when public prosecutions head Shaun Abrahams announced he was charging Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan with fraud. The economic damage was immediately registered in the financial markets. The outlook for inflation deteriorated with the weaker rand, and so the possibility of lower interest rates from the Reserve Bank receded. The income and job prospects of South African households and their willingness to spend and borrow more, essential to any cyclical...
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