By OBAKENG MAJE
South Africa continues to find itself in a catastrophic situation as the electrical grid buckles under pressure and Eskom fails dismally to keep the lights on.
Now, President, Cyril Ramaphosa has cut his international trip short and landed at Waterkloof Base this morning to address the quagmire. Ramaphosa said in his new letter that, solving the electricity challenge is vital for investment drive.
“A few days ago, I met with United State of America (USA) president, Joe Biden in Washington to discuss several issues of concern to both our countries, including peace and security, climate change, and food security.
“Most importantly, we discussed ways to deepen trade and investment between our two countries. Behind China and the European Union, the United States is South Africa’s third largest trading partner and is the second largest destination of our country’s exports,” he said.
Ramaphosa said there are around 600 US companies in South Africa and over the years, an increasing number of South African companies in sectors as diverse as mining, energy, chemicals, banking, health and wellness, and luxury goods have expanded their footprint into the US.
“We agreed with Biden that, we must do more to increase business between our two countries and have set up a joint task force on trade and investment to provide focus and direction to our efforts.
“While in Washington, we also spoke to several US business leaders who expressed a keen interest in investing in South Africa. The visits we undertake to various countries, be they working visits, state visits, or trade missions, are crucial for promoting investment and trade, bringing in investment and they create jobs,” said Ramaphosa.
He further said, they also improve their relations with the countries they visit thus creating great opportunities for South Africa. Ramaphosa added that, building strong partnerships with other countries is important, but it is not enough.
“That is why we are working to make our economy more competitive, more efficient, and more attractive to both international and local companies. First and foremost, we have to overcome the electricity crisis.
“Since late last week, Eskom has been forced to implement load shedding due to breakdowns at a number of power stations. The situation has been made worse by the depletion of emergency generation reserves such as pumped storage and diesel turbines and the need for these to be replenished,” he said.
Ramaphosa said the severe load-shedding of the last few days has reminded them of how unstable the aging power stations are. He said it has given greater urgency to the measures they announced two months ago to stabilise the electricity supply.
“On Sunday, I held an urgent virtual meeting with Ministers and officials on the reasons for the current load shedding and the steps being taken to reduce the severity and frequency of load shedding in the coming days and weeks.
“Eskom has already announced some of the measures it is taking and we will remain seized with this issue until the situation is resolved. Solving the electricity crisis is necessary if we are to realise the potential of our economy,” said Ramaphosa.
In 2018, the country launched an ambitious investment drive to raise R1.2 trillion in new investments over five years. To date, it has raised more than 90% of that amount in commitments from both domestic and foreign investors.
Ramaphosa said of these commitments around R330 billion, have already flowed into the economy, opening new factories, expanding product lines, and creating new jobs.
The Guardian 