S. Africa energy shortage hits millions
Pastor Dale Morgan
Fri January 25, 2008
*S. Africa energy shortage hits millions*
* Story Highlights
* National emergency declared in South Africa as power cuts affect
millions
* Problems cast doubt over plans to host the football World Cup in 2010
* President Mbeki admits his government failed to plan properly
after warnings
* Government outlines steps including higher energy prices and
conservation
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (CNN) -- A "national electrical emergency"
has been declared in South Africa where power cuts are affecting
millions of people and casting doubt over plans to host the football
World Cup in 2010.
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The power cuts mean commuters must navigate intersections with no
working traffic lights.
Authorities on Friday outlined steps to combat the problem that is
stirring anxiety about the future of the largest economy in Africa.
The power has gone off across the country frequently in the last few
weeks -- sometimes for up to five hours at a time -- as demand exceeds
supply.
President Thabo Mbeki has admitted that his government failed to plan
properly after being warned about possible shortages years ago.
The Department of Public Enterprises said power interruptions
constituted a national emergency and outlined steps that could bring
higher energy prices and more conservation.
"The unprecedented unplanned power outages must now be treated as a
national electricity emergency situation that has to be addressed with
urgent, vigorous and coordinated actions," Public Enterprise Minister
Alec Erwin told journalists.
"We are viewing the next two years as being critical," he said. In two
years, South Africa will hosting the World Cup finals with 300,000
visitors expected.
The South African Tourism Services Association said this week the crisis
jeopardized the World Cup.
"Will people come to SA to see them if they know they will be going back
to hotels and guest houses with no power? That means no hot meals, no
clean laundry, no lights," said Michael Tatalias of the tourism
association, according to The Associated Press.
Tourists stranded
The power cuts mean commuters navigate intersections with no working
traffic lights. Restaurateurs wait in the dark for customers. And
hospital administrators rush to find power for emergency rooms and
intensive care units.
And the problem was cast into sharp relief when a few hundred tourists
at Cape Town's Landmark Mountain were stranded in a cable car after the
power went out.
The state-owned electricity supplier, Eskom, initiated rolling blackouts
after concluding that "demand for electricity may exceed the available
supply from time to time." Usage went up 4.3 percent last year, the
Department of Public Enterprises said Friday.
The power outages have called into question the government's ability to
meet its target of 6 percent growth. They also have imperiled efforts to
combat a 25 percent unemployment rate.
"Unfortunately, it means job creation will not be as prevalent as
intended," said Azar Jammine, chief economist at Econometrix, a South
African company that provides economic analysis. "And the ability to
reduce inequality between rich and poor will take much longer to achieve."
New reality
South African gold and platinum mining companies have had to suspend
mining operations because of the power interruptions.
AngloGold Ashanti announced Friday that "it has halted mining and gold
recovery operations on all its South African operations." Harmony Gold
Mining Company Ltd. and Gold Fields Ltd. have suspended underground mine
operations.
Willie Jacobs, a Gold Fields spokesman, called the closure of the mines
"catastrophic" and "diabolical."
A Gold Fields statement said Eskom has asked its key industrial
consumers such as Gold Fields and others "to reduce its consumption to
the minimum load possible."
"This will have a serious effect on the South African operations and
will negatively affect our gold production," said Ian Cockerill, chief
executive officer of Gold Fields. "The South African operations produce
approximately 7,000 ounces per day. We are looking at ways to continue
operations and will work closely with Eskom to try and resolve this
problem."
Frans Barker, senior executive of the country's Council of Mines, an
industry group, said Friday was a particularly bad day for electricity
availability but the companies hope that it was an exception.
"We are hoping they will be able to produce again tomorrow," Barker
said. There was an emergency meeting between Eskom and the mining
officials Friday and mining officials are to meet over the weekend to
deal with the issue of energy supplies.
One of the problems the mining industry is facing is the quantity and
quality of the coal used as energy, Barker said. Rain has affected coal
production and wet coal is less efficient than dry coal.
A man who sells newspapers told CNN that power outages often caused
delays at the printing press. That means his product sometimes arrives
too late.
"Our late edition comes very late," he said. "When it comes, customers
have already gone. Sales are bad."
At a normally busy Johannesburg restaurant, the staff lit candles and
lingered at lunchtime one recent day, surveying empty tables half an
hour after the lights went off.
"It's been happening for the past two or three weeks -- happens in the
morning, the afternoon," one employee said. "We just have to take it day
by day."
South Africa has made much progress since its transition from apartheid
to democracy in 1994, but deep disparities remain, according to the
World Bank, which provides financial and technical assistance to
developing countries.
"South Africa is a society where deeply entrenched poverty, illiteracy,
unemployment and loss of human dignity among the majority of the black
population co-exist with economic wealth, scholastic achievements and a
'first world' lifestyle among the white population at par with the
richest countries in Europe," the World Bank says.
New power plants are on the way, but analysts say the new capacity will
be ready by 2011 at the earliest. As people adjust to the new reality,
utility officials at Eskom are trying to rally their countrymen during a
difficult situation.
"All South Africans need to pull together and save electricity," the
utility says on its Web site, "because every little bit of saving counts."