‘SA is not an island. Electricity crisis is a global phenomenon’, says Mantashe

“South Africans see themselves as an island when the electricity crisis is a global phenomenon,” says mineral resources and energy minister Gwede Mantashe

He was addressing media on Thursday after signing three project agreements under Bid Window 5 of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme.

The projects are part of government’s plan to strengthen the ailing national grid. They will be launched at Coleskop Wind Power in Eastern Cape, SansKraal Wind Power and Phezukomoya Wind Power in Northern Cape.

Mantashe said the mood of society was understandably upset, with high stages of load-shedding. 

He said South Africans see themselves as “an island”, as if load-shedding does not happen in other parts of the world. 

“When you explain the crisis to society, South Africans see themselves as an island when electric energy crisis is a global phenomenon. South Africans don’t accept that. They think this is a local crisis,” claimed Mantashe.

He said Europe’s coal orders from SA have increased by 720%, and they are also experiencing an energy crisis. 

“This crisis is a global phenomenon but we have a responsibility to address our crisis. We are in crisis mode and have to work hard to resolve it.”

The minister responded to calls for him to be axed after Eskom implemented stage 6 power cuts last week.

He said he was not responsible for the energy crisis. 

“It is an occupational hazard to be insulted. It cannot be my fault because even if we allow renewables, we give them contracts and sign agreements with them, they are not going to put energy on the crate on Saturday,” he said. 

Earlier this year, when the country experienced stage 6 load-shedding, Mantashe told News24 it was unfair to blame him.

He said the power utility falls under the public enterprises department.

“It is unfair to place blame on myself or government. What should I do with Eskom as mineral resources and energy minister? The power utility falls under public enterprises.”

He criticised Eskom’s management, saying he could not understand why the power utility was resorting to load-shedding when it allegedly had enough electricity in its reserves. 

“I hear 6,000MW but I know Eskom has 45,000MW connected capacity. It operates at 30,000MW. Therefore, the shortfall of 15,000MW is on the suboptimal operation of Eskom,” Mantashe said.

“As we implement the supplementary programme to boost generation, Eskom can also be optimised. They have 15,000MW idle. There is a lot of energy not used because of one reason or another.”

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