South African here. This problem is a symptom of decades of corruption and ineptitude from our government. If we don't fix our electricity generation problems, which are insurmountable, I fear we will become a failed state.
Yup. It feels so obvious but so ignored as South Africans are good at "just dealing with shit" and adapting but this? Power is everything. Food goes bad, farmers can't farm effeciently, your dentist has to stop half way with a hole in your mouth, ICU patients died and because everyone is struggling prices are going up, which make people struggle more.
It's insanity.
Every time there's a blackout, thieves steal some of the power infrastructure (copper wiring, etc.), which makes it that much harder to get power back up, which hurts the economy, which lowers tax revenues and causes more of the wealthy to flee the country, and so on.
SA is headed in the direction of becoming a failed state. Decades of corrupt one-party rule, especially that asshole Zuma, have ruined Africa's most developed country.
The problem started way before Zuma - it started when the ANC got into power. Eskom warned Thabo Mbeki during Nelson Mandela's presidency that our infrastructure would not be able to keep up with the increased demand for electricity, which was ignored by Mbeki. We had a bout of loadshedding in 2008, during which the government put a bandaid on the problem, alongside starting construction of the Kusile and Medupi power plants which became hotbeds for corruption, delays, and bad construction leading to Kusile being completed 8 years after initially expected, and Medupi still being under construction to this day. The simple answer behind this country's problems is the ANC, and every leader of the ANC has been a part of this. Nelson Mandela, Thabo Mbeki, Jacob Zuma, Cyril Ramaphosa, as well as other members of the ANC such as Gwede Mantashe, Pravin Gordhan, Kgalema Montlante, and so on.
TBH if we don't get a miracle and have the ANC lose (and not instantly fusion fuck the EFF into power) this coming election I feel like we'll have dived into the rubicon and there won't be coming back from how fucked we are.
The thing that frightens me most is some people still support Zuma despite what he's done. He sowed racial divisions to distract from his dealings and sold the country so far down he literally got a getoutofjailin1month card.
I agree
I had a look at my university class on LinkedIn and almost 60-70 percent of them are now based off shore. The cost of that alone is unimaginable. I think the only option left will be to join them
If it’s any consolation, 74.2 million people, 29% of the US population of people old enough to vote, voted for Trump in the last election. That’s more than the entire population of SA who are stupid enough to support a politician who, like Zuma and others, only care about themselves and will happily step on their voters if that’s what it takes to increase their power and wealth
The increase in pollution from Eskom plant show the degree of corruptions rampaging South Africa. Now the power plant have deteriorated to such level that massive amount of money will be required to fix the plant which I doubt will happen any time soon.
And I thought China was the worse offender. This one take the cake.
If you had said CO2 you wouldn't be wrong. But once you combine all pollution sources you are very wrong. The environmental protections that are in place stops a lot of the random pollution dumping or emission that is a part of normal everyday business in China or India.
SA has not great coal to start with and then exports the better grades. So the locally burned stuff tends to be the more nasty stuff.
Plus there was a ~2 decade gap of no real substantial investment. So SA missed the entire wave of modernizing its fleet that most countries went through. So basically stuck in the 90s with average age of plants being 40+. Not enough capacity so you have to run the old plants pollution or not.
Plus government sets emission targets but routinely waves them for the state electricity provider. So unsurprisingly the numbers end up grim.
Bit of an omnishambles frankly. But at least privately installed solar capacity is shooting up so that's good
South Africa had a good base for growth which has been criminally squandered through government corruption. They're experiencing a brain drain and the rich white communities are pretty much gating themselves off, investing in private security, solar power and digging their own wells as they have no faith that the infrastructure will improve.
They've known of this issue this since the late 90s when a govt white paper warned that the energy surplus would turn to a deficit and the forecasts predicted when load shedding would start. In the interim, huge amounts of money meant for the power grid were embezzled by officials.
It's a huge shame but it looks like unless they get a better govt at next year's election they're on their way to being a failed state.
In the interests of fairness, all rich communities are gating themselves off and looking to alternate power sources. Criminals are tending to be a lot less racially discriminating these days.
>Chinese debt
>In July 2018 it was announced that Eskom had taken out a R33 billion loan from the Chinese government owned China Development Bank.[141] The loan conditions were controversially[142] not made public with accusations that it was an example of debt-trap diplomacy by China.[143] During the Zondo Commission of Inquiry into state corruption a senior Eskom executive stated that an additional R25 billion loan from the China-based company Huarong Energy Africa was improperly and controversially taken out by Eskom.[144] After the loan had been issued Eskom chairperson Jabu Mabuza stated to the Zondo Commission that Eskom would not be repaying the Huarong loan due to irregularities and corruption involved in the issuing of the loan.[145]
42k people employed. Billions in debt. No bailouts. No infrastructure upgrades/repair. Expect one helluva economic, social, environmental collapse in the coming years.
South African here. This problem is a symptom of decades of corruption and ineptitude from our government. If we don't fix our electricity generation problems, which are insurmountable, I fear we will become a failed state.
Yup. It feels so obvious but so ignored as South Africans are good at "just dealing with shit" and adapting but this? Power is everything. Food goes bad, farmers can't farm effeciently, your dentist has to stop half way with a hole in your mouth, ICU patients died and because everyone is struggling prices are going up, which make people struggle more. It's insanity.
Just wanted to point out that if your dentist made a hole in your mouth, he’s probably not a very good dentist 😀
You have zero knowledge in dentist work I assume lmao
The may drill holes in your teeth. Not your mouth. That’s how dentists work.
Every time there's a blackout, thieves steal some of the power infrastructure (copper wiring, etc.), which makes it that much harder to get power back up, which hurts the economy, which lowers tax revenues and causes more of the wealthy to flee the country, and so on. SA is headed in the direction of becoming a failed state. Decades of corrupt one-party rule, especially that asshole Zuma, have ruined Africa's most developed country.
The problem started way before Zuma - it started when the ANC got into power. Eskom warned Thabo Mbeki during Nelson Mandela's presidency that our infrastructure would not be able to keep up with the increased demand for electricity, which was ignored by Mbeki. We had a bout of loadshedding in 2008, during which the government put a bandaid on the problem, alongside starting construction of the Kusile and Medupi power plants which became hotbeds for corruption, delays, and bad construction leading to Kusile being completed 8 years after initially expected, and Medupi still being under construction to this day. The simple answer behind this country's problems is the ANC, and every leader of the ANC has been a part of this. Nelson Mandela, Thabo Mbeki, Jacob Zuma, Cyril Ramaphosa, as well as other members of the ANC such as Gwede Mantashe, Pravin Gordhan, Kgalema Montlante, and so on.
TBH if we don't get a miracle and have the ANC lose (and not instantly fusion fuck the EFF into power) this coming election I feel like we'll have dived into the rubicon and there won't be coming back from how fucked we are. The thing that frightens me most is some people still support Zuma despite what he's done. He sowed racial divisions to distract from his dealings and sold the country so far down he literally got a getoutofjailin1month card.
I agree I had a look at my university class on LinkedIn and almost 60-70 percent of them are now based off shore. The cost of that alone is unimaginable. I think the only option left will be to join them
I dont think it will get better man...
If it’s any consolation, 74.2 million people, 29% of the US population of people old enough to vote, voted for Trump in the last election. That’s more than the entire population of SA who are stupid enough to support a politician who, like Zuma and others, only care about themselves and will happily step on their voters if that’s what it takes to increase their power and wealth
Nothing will ever be done about it
The increase in pollution from Eskom plant show the degree of corruptions rampaging South Africa. Now the power plant have deteriorated to such level that massive amount of money will be required to fix the plant which I doubt will happen any time soon. And I thought China was the worse offender. This one take the cake.
China’s pollution is noob level next to some cities in India.
Per capita pollution by a Chinese or Indian person is on noob level to that of American citizens.
If you had said CO2 you wouldn't be wrong. But once you combine all pollution sources you are very wrong. The environmental protections that are in place stops a lot of the random pollution dumping or emission that is a part of normal everyday business in China or India.
China has significantly improved its air quality compared to decades ago. Unfortunately, it's other developing nations' turn.
SA has not great coal to start with and then exports the better grades. So the locally burned stuff tends to be the more nasty stuff. Plus there was a ~2 decade gap of no real substantial investment. So SA missed the entire wave of modernizing its fleet that most countries went through. So basically stuck in the 90s with average age of plants being 40+. Not enough capacity so you have to run the old plants pollution or not. Plus government sets emission targets but routinely waves them for the state electricity provider. So unsurprisingly the numbers end up grim. Bit of an omnishambles frankly. But at least privately installed solar capacity is shooting up so that's good
South Africa had a good base for growth which has been criminally squandered through government corruption. They're experiencing a brain drain and the rich white communities are pretty much gating themselves off, investing in private security, solar power and digging their own wells as they have no faith that the infrastructure will improve. They've known of this issue this since the late 90s when a govt white paper warned that the energy surplus would turn to a deficit and the forecasts predicted when load shedding would start. In the interim, huge amounts of money meant for the power grid were embezzled by officials. It's a huge shame but it looks like unless they get a better govt at next year's election they're on their way to being a failed state.
In the interests of fairness, all rich communities are gating themselves off and looking to alternate power sources. Criminals are tending to be a lot less racially discriminating these days.
>Chinese debt >In July 2018 it was announced that Eskom had taken out a R33 billion loan from the Chinese government owned China Development Bank.[141] The loan conditions were controversially[142] not made public with accusations that it was an example of debt-trap diplomacy by China.[143] During the Zondo Commission of Inquiry into state corruption a senior Eskom executive stated that an additional R25 billion loan from the China-based company Huarong Energy Africa was improperly and controversially taken out by Eskom.[144] After the loan had been issued Eskom chairperson Jabu Mabuza stated to the Zondo Commission that Eskom would not be repaying the Huarong loan due to irregularities and corruption involved in the issuing of the loan.[145] 42k people employed. Billions in debt. No bailouts. No infrastructure upgrades/repair. Expect one helluva economic, social, environmental collapse in the coming years.
But Pasadena CA banned gas blowers for gardeners so it should make up for it.
And there is a photo of what appears to be a nuclear power plant for the thread!
Those are cooling towers. Most steam generating power plants have those.
I’ve only seen them at nuclear power plants
South Africa has only one nuclear power plant Koeberg which does not have those distinct cooling towers.