Star 2023-05-17

This despite StatsSA recording 258 000 new employees finding jobs in first quarter of this year THE RATE OF unemployment in South Africa is bound to remain high in the medium term as the economy struggles to create jobs on the back of an electricity crisis that suffocates energy-intensive industries which absorb the most labour force. Statistics South Africa (StatsSA) yesterday said that the unemployment rate edged up slightly by 0.2 of a percentage point to 32.9% in the three months to March, from 32.7% in the fourth quarter of 2022. This was the first increase in the unemployment rate in more than a year after the economy withstood the disruption caused by KwaZulu-Natal floods, heightened load shedding and the two-week-long Transnet strike last year. However, Eskom has…

MINISTER of Mineral Resources and Energy Gwede Mantashe said yesterday that the lack of grid capacity was the single challenge the country faced. Speaking at the tabling of his department’s budget vote in Parliament yesterday, Mantashe said: “The single-most challenge we face to address the energy crisis is the grid unavailability.” He said despite the country struggling with the grid capacity and load shedding rollouts, connectivity and universal access to electricity for citizens was important. Mantashe said, notwithstanding, the headwinds, the department re- mained steadfast in setting objectives that it should meet in its programme to ensure universal access to electricity for the poor. He said the department aimed to connect 917 000 households to the grid. Mantashe said: “Today, 673 946 households are connected to…

FINANCE Minister Enoch Godongwana has hinted that the government could begin a process of downsizing its headcount of more than 1.2 million workers and freeze recruitment for certain positions as part of “difficult trade-offs” aimed to ease pressure on the fiscus due to the rising public sector wage bill. This is likely to be fiercely contested by workers unions who have been playing hard-ball against the government’s austerity measures on the back of rising cost of living as a result of elevated consumer inflation. Presenting the National Treasury Budget Vote in Parliament yesterday, Godongwana said the Treasury would continue to ensure that public finances are restored to a sustainable footing, by stabilising debt, promoting economic growth, and cushioning the economy from financial and other shocks. However, Godongwana said a…

A MOTHER of All Battles – coined by Saddam Hussein in the 1991 Persian Gulf War – is raging in South Africa. This aptly applies to our country currently. But even a much more brutal war was fought following American and British suspicions of Iraq producing “Weapons of Mass Destruction”. It is this latter war that left Iraq in a state of two decades of instability. While that war destroyed all semblance of normality in Iraq, the tragedy was also comical and entertaining, with its lead actor who came to be known as “Comical Ali”. South Africa’s existential threat of a collapsed grid has several characters who play the role of comical Ali. They could pass for the best comedians except that like in the case of Comical Ali, the…

MANY SCIENTISTS and engineers have divided opinions on whether the South African grid will collapse or not if the country’s current leadership attitude towards coal power generation and allowing themselves to be misled about the case for nuclear power prevails. Some say there are systems in place to prevent total grid collapse should it happen that consumers draw more power from the grid than Eskom generation power plants can keep the grid going as the power pumped into the transmission system dips below untenable point/s. Some say nothing is guaranteed anymore if anything is to be learned from how Eskom is unable to arrest the persistent breakdowns of the current Eskom generation. Whatever the case is between the two centres of the divide, one thing is crystal clear: the grid…

SANDISIWE Ncemane, the CEO of the Petroleum Oil and Gas South Africa (PetroSA), is confident that its aggressive drive for strategic partners to collaborate with in unfolding a mix of gas to power is the right approach. This comes as PetroSA is taking over the aviation fuel supply dumped by BP Petroleum and ensuring a consistent supply of diesel for power utility Eskom’s turbines and the general market. Ncemane said the petroleum entity had been aggressive from the third quarter of last year to grow the volumes of product in the market while focusing on the long-term view of sustainable financial stability and being able to navigate the challenges stemming from geo-political factors. “Across our projects, we use partnerships as far as possible to also ensure adequate funding. “For instance,…