FOOTNOTES
HILARY JOFFE: Government’s timidity is odd given that it has to rely on private sector for growth
There was some irony to trade unions’ last-minute intervention this week to halt Eskom’s long-awaited signing of agreements with new independent power producers (IPPs). The signings with the 27 IPPs, which were projected to bring in R56bn of investment and create 61 ,000 jobs over the next two to three years, have now been put on hold (again) by Energy Minister Jeff Radebe. And while it’s rather late in the day for the National Union of Metalworkers of SA and Cosatu to start demanding guarantees on jobs, in a sense they cannot entirely be faulted. SA should long ago have had a proper debate about renewable energy and its trade-offs, because while the new wind and solar plants may create jobs, it’s highly unlikely they will create jobs for coal miners, who over the long term stand to lose jobs as SA’s generation mix shifts to cleaner energy.The irony, however, is that SA’s renewable energy IPP programme has been just about the only thing that has kept private sector investment going ...
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