Planning for a South African future, where the Nats and the ANC have been weakest

[View in browser]( [Mail & Guardian]( M&G Mornings | Fri 07 Jul   [Ron Derby] In utter frustration in one of our editorial meetings this week, one of our senior editors asked just how it is that South Africa finds itself perennially in a state of crisis? The topic was our electricity situation, which has been the main focus for the Mail & Guardian this week. Earlier this year, we looked at the past 25 years of bad decisions made by good, bad and even more dangerously, ignorant people in bringing us to an insecure energy position. The reactions to it were heated and my phone didn’t stop as some of the better men spat fire. But the more I get into it, and look past headlines around corruption encapsulated by the “State Capture” narrative, the more that I understand just how badly conceived, planned this entire economy has been from its very beginning. It’s been a relay of bad decisions with only brief interludes of soaring raw material prices such as the Chinese super-commodity cycle that patch over the cracks the JSE booms. The case in point that we highlight this week is the solar energy boom, which is expected to yield as much as 6,800 megawatts of power by the year’s end. That’s enough to take us out of load shedding, which has been with us non-stop since October last year. For us to benefit from the additional megawatts, a broke Eskom has to invest R210 billion. We’d all protest should Enoch Godongwana find that astronomical number from somewhere in the budget and rightfully so, given the more than R300 billion spent on Medupi and Kusile – which today only yields 1,600 megawatts from our expectations of 9,600 megawatts some 18 years later. If the R210 billion were to come from the promised billion dollars from the Just Transition, with the stringent conditions on decommissioning coal power plants, it could take as long as a decade to fully upgrade the grid to fully embrace our renewable future. Planning, planning, planning. The National Party never thought “black people” would ever be more than their children. The ANC never foresaw what providing electricity to all – a just pursuit – would mean for the grid, especially with all the imported and cheap Chinese products such as microwaves, computers and smartphones would do. Here we are. Ron Derby | Editor-in-Chief [@Ronderby]( [Acciona SA To Ramp Up South Africa Business After Solar Success]( Premium [SA’s R210 billion grid dilemma hits pause on load-shedding fix]( Renewable energy could close the gap between demand and supply, ending load-shedding. But out-of-pocket Eskom must find money to upgrade its transmission infrastructure first Thank you for supporting the Mail & Guardian This article is available only to subscribers Subscribe Join the M&G Community The Mail & Guardian is committed to providing all our readers with the best possible experience. By subscribing, you become a valued member of the M&G community, actively championing independent journalism and enabling us to deliver the latest news directly to you. Your subscription plays a vital role in supporting our mission and unlocks: - M&G community membership - access to all articles online, including premium subs-only features - a digital version of the weekly newspaper emailed to you every week - invites to subscriber only events - the opportunity to test new online features, first [Subscribe]( Already a subscriber? login here. 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