As the country continues to grapple with rolling blackouts, Prasheen Maharaj, the Durban Chamber of Commerce President believes the public and private sector need to work together as a “patriotic collective” to tackle the challenges posed by load shedding.
“We don’t wish to be pacified with diplomatic charm. No, take us seriously enough and we can become an invaluable partner to government. We are in a critical situation.
“As a business community we cannot allow our infrastructure, our businesses and the economy of eThekwini to crumble before our very eyes. We need patriotic partnerships, driven by a common desire to build a prosperous city for all our people,” said Maharaj.
Speaking at the two-day eThekwini Energy Transformation Summit, Maharaj pointed out that the energy crisis was costing the country R1 billion in economic activity and there was no more time to play the blame game.
He said the situation was getting worse, with record levels of load shedding experienced in 2022 – 207 days of blackouts compared to 75 days in 2021.
Maharaj, who is also the group CEO of one Africa’s biggest shipbuilding firms, Sandock Austral Shipyards, emphasised the need to acknowledge the problem and take action to address it.
“This requires frank, robust and honest admissions by all parties concerned,” he said.
Maharaj highlighted the energy crisis as one of the biggest challenges facing the city, and expressed his frustration at the situation.
“We are deeply concerned and more importantly, very frustrated about the situation. The uninterrupted supply of energy is impacting the economy across crucial economic sectors, resulting in a loss of productivity,” he said.
Maharaj explained the Chamber's six-point plan to tackle Durban's energy crisis:
– Develop a schematic map of the reticulation and cable networks to gain a clear understanding of the current condition and prevent continual firefighting approach.
– Develop a regional priority plan based on the evaluation of the energy usage in different regions.
– Establish public-private partnerships for the maintenance and upgrade of infrastructure, including amendment of regulations to support this.
– Develop an energy crisis task team with both public and private sector participants.
– Develop future skills required for maintaining energy stability through TVET colleges and other educational institutes.
– Develop stronger call centre and online support mechanisms to keep consumers informed about the challenges and not left in the dark.
Maharaj identified four fundamental problems that were impacting the distribution of electricity in eThekwini.
These include the lack of upgrades to substations and transformers that were installed in the 1970s and 80s, the lack of informed and scheduled preventative maintenance on the bulk distribution equipment, the lack of restoration and replacement of key equipment after the April 2022 flood damage, and crime, including the theft of cables and deliberate sabotage of infrastructure.
Maharaj further highlighted the impact of load shedding on businesses, especially those involved in food supply.
He said many of the businesses involved in food supply were dependent on electricity to sustain operations. If load shedding was not resolved, the risk of stores not stocking fresh produce remained high.
“Furthermore, it has the potential to lead to food security issues and increase costs to consumers. The frequent load shedding creates uncertainty for farmers and producers of poultry, dairy, fruits, and vegetables,” he said.
Agri-SA recently highlighted that electricity was central to modern farming practices and the recent increase in load shedding had seriously disrupted farming operations.
Maharaj also spoke about the impact of load shedding on small businesses, which do not have adequate options and measures in place to withstand the impact of load shedding.
“For most small businesses, both in the formal and informal sectors, the lost productive time is crippling and places a significant negative financial burden on their businesses as they lose thousands of rands each and every instance of load shedding,” he said.
He noted that the SME sector in South Africa was facing an existential crisis and stressed the need for solutions.
Maharaj proposed three areas of focus to solve the energy crisis. The first area was energy security, where the government needed to work with the private sector to guarantee the supply of energy to sustain business operations.
Maharaj also stressed the need to reduce the cost of energy in South Africa to promote economic growth and stimulate investments. He called for a fair and equitable tariff for all electricity users.
Last, he stressed the need to reduce the impact of energy issues on the environment.
IOL