Concerns about heavy reliance on Eskom
LOBAMBA - Senators have expressed concerns on the country not producing its own electricity and relying heavily on Eskom.
It was during the debate of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Energy’s first quarter performance report in Senate, when the senators submitted their apprehensions on the kingdom’s reliance on South Africa’s Eskom.
Deputy Senate President Ndumiso Mdluli, said power was crucial in ensuring the operations of businesses. He raised that as it were, Eskom was facing challenges of load-shedding in South Africa, where residents would, from time to time, be without electricity for a better part of the day. He said the supplier itself robbed South Africans of its supply in order to generate money.
Generating
“In other words, they are generating substantive revenue from the country as they also supply other SADC countries,” the deputy president said.
Meanwhile, he appreciated that negotiations for the review of the contract had begun. However, he registered his fear that if the country continued to purchase power from South Africa in 2025, the tariffs would be higher.
“While we resume negotiations, we need to explore how we can reduce dependency on our neighbours, because a large amount of our money goes there. It could be used to do other projects,” Mdluli suggested.
Senator Mkhululi Dlamini was of the view that the country loved crises. In his submission, the senator substantiated that five years ago, it was discussed that the contract between South Africa and Eswatini would expire. However, he said to date, Eswatini still did not produce its own electricity.
He asked what the country was doing to ensure the production of sufficient electricity. “Why must we wait until there is a crisis all the time? Can we produce our own immediately?” Dlamini queried.
Crisis
In response,Acting Minister of Natural Resources and Energy, Jabulani Mabuza, said it was not true that they were fond of crises. Instead, he mentioned that situations resulted in them being in that position.
The minister explained that the production of electricity was made possible by all stakeholders in the country, especially the private sector. Mabuza elaborated that government could not venture into this business. He highlighted that there were certain loopholes that needed to be filled in the private sector and it was government’s wish that this was rectified.
The acting minister mentioned that the Natural Resources and Energy parastatals (EEC and ESERA), were working on a 40 megawatts biomass project, which was in progress. He said timelines were pushed for the progress and delivery of the project.
Mabuza stated that the fruition of the 40 megawatts project would be an achievement for the country. He added that this was not to say there was no production of electricity in the country, as there was an organisation that worked with Illovo. The minister added that there was another 45 megawatts solar project. He said unfortunately, it was stalled as there was a party that challenged the outcome of the project in court. The minister revealed that looking at the combination of the 40 megawatts of biomass and 45 megawatts projects; it could result in 95 megawatts produced in the country.
“If this can be successful, it could really be an achievement for the country and the ministry is working for it to be a success,” he said.
However, he raised that there were challenges that derailed the progress of the projects because they had to wait for the outcome from the courts. He said this was unfortunate because they had to respect the laws of the country from all angles no matter what.
Funding
He went on to disclose that there was another hydro project at Maguga Dam, whose feasibility study was concluded and now required funding. The minister said it would add about 20 megawatts and would cost approximately E3 million.
Mabuza further allayed fears that Eskom could cut its supply to Eswatini. Instead, he said the only challenge could be that it could have challenges in its supply. He said the elapsing of the contract was not going to be the first time as it once happened and it was renewed.
He also said there was an agreement between Mozambique and Eswatini, for the neighbouring country to supply the kingdom with about 20 megawatts electricity. He said if all these were successful, the country could produce more than half of its consumption.