Power crisis: Ramokgopa’s 18-month plan to prevent total economic collapse

JOHANNESBURG - Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa has finally publicly shared his plans to end the energy crisis after tabling it to the ANC national working committee and national executive committee (NEC).

During an hour-and-ahalf-long engagement at the weekend with the media at the Birchwood Hotel in Boksburg, Johannesburg, Ramokgopa presented an 18-month plan to create about 12, 000MW of additional electricity capacity.

He said this would counter the increased electricity demand his department foresees during winter and ensure that there wasn’t a total collapse of the economy.

Ramokgopa said the immediate interventions to be implemented within the next six months included reducing Eskom infrastructure sabotage, buying diesel worth around R30 billion, improving the efficiency of underperforming power stations and reducing maintenance work, particularly during peak demand.

“Even with the proposed intervention, we will not stop load shedding, but we seek to ensure that the economy continues to sustain itself.

We want to ensure that the levels of load shedding still make it possible for major industries to operate… so that there is no collapse of the South African economy,” Ramokgopa said.

He added:

The NEC identified that there is an increase in sabotage, and we plan to protect key installations and ensure that there is uninterrupted supply.

The latest examples of sabotage were in Pretoria when electricity pylons were under attack, and that also undermined Rand Water’s ability to provide water.

Regarding diesel procurement, Ramokgopa said the R30 billion came from two particular avenues.

“What we know about the

Ramokgopa

diesel is that in the 18 percent tariff increase which the National Energy Regulator of South Africa has granted to Eskom, R8 billion has been set aside to procure diesel by the power utility.

“We also know that in terms of the fiscal relief that the minister of finance has offered to Eskom, there is an additional R22 billion that Eskom has also made available for the procurement of diesel. So, the point we are making there is that we have confirmed R30 billion that is available for diesel procurement,” Ramokgopa added.

He said the ANC NEC had approved his plans to request assistance from specialists to improve the performance of Eskom’s fleet of 15 coal-fired power stations. – NEWS24.

Unlike their large-scale counterparts, small-scale miners do not have sophisticated mining equipment to de-water mining shafts, which makes it difficult for them to carry out their operations.

HARARE – Zimbabwe’s gold output declined by 19.5 percent to 6.2 tonnes in the first quarter of this year, negatively impacted by the lack of equipment among small producers to dewater flooded pits during the rainy season.

Small-scale miners account for about 60 percent of the country’s total annual yellow metal production delivered to Fidelity Gold and Refiners, Zimbabwe’s sole authorised gold buyer.

The Meteorological Services Department predicted Zimbabwe would receive normal to above normal rains in the 2022/23 rainy season, which the first quarter characterised by incessant rains.

Unlike their large-scale counterparts, small-scale miners do not have sophisticated mining equipment to de-water mining shafts, which makes it difficult for them to carry out their operations.

According to production statistics provided by Fidelity Gold and Refiners, in the corresponding period last year, the gold miners delivered 7.7 tonnes.

Zimbabwe Miners Federation (ZMF) president Henrietta Rushwaya, whose organisation represents small-scale miners, said: “The drop in gold deliveries by the small-scale mining industry is largely due to the incessant rains received in the first quarter this year compared to the same period last year.

“So, each time the country receives more rains compared to the previous season, our mines become inaccessible and difficult to work on unlike our large-scale counterparts who have the equipment to de-water the shafts. So beginning next month, we expect to see gold deliveries of the smallscale miners improving.”

Despite the overall drop in gold output in the first quarter of the year, small-scale miners continued to lead in gold output, delivering 3.7 tonnes against 2.5 tonnes produced by large mining firms in the first three months of this year.

Although the small-scale miners persistently maintained the lead in terms of deliveries, their output was below the 4.9 tonnes they delivered in the first quarter last year.

Large-scale producers managed 2.7 tonnes during the same period last year.

Fidelity Gold and Refiners said in January, overall deliveries by both small-scale and large-scale producers totalled 1.9 tonnes and the figure remained constant in February before sharply rising to 2.4 tonnes last month.

In line with the US$12 billion mining economy target, the government is targeting to generate US$4 billion from gold.

Before the launch of the US$12 billion milestone in 2019, the mining exports generated US$2.7 billion in 2018.

In 2022, the gold mining sub-sector delivered a record of 35.3 tonnes of the precious metal.

The increased gold output has largely been attributed to the government’s improved support to the mining industry.