RURAL LANDSCAPE CHANGING

Sir,

Access to electricity in the country is improving impressively.The rural landscape is changing into one of luxury mansions towering and lighting up the night against a backdrop of stick and mud huts.  However, parallel to this positive trend is the growing threat of failing to develop a 100 per cent independent power supply to sustain us until doomsday. There is suddenly an urgency to put the lights on permanently in the country’s energy sector. That we failed to take up all the opportunities presented to us decades ago is unforgivable. I do recall that not long after Mozambique discovered natural gas, the proactive minds were quick to seek opportunities.

Mapping

Companies in South Africa were negotiating a gas pipeline from Mozambique to their doorstep. The mapping of the pipeline was such that it would pass by our front doorstep and the Mozambican Government engaged neighbouring Eswatini and offered it a certain quota of the gas supply. It is an open secret that Eswatini was eventually left out of this lucrative offer because of legislation that sought to make the sale of gas in the country the monopoly of a certain group of elite businessmen. This was an initiative which could have been handled by one of government’s parastatals or a joint venture with a reputable company in the energy sector. The natural gas facilities in Mozambique have increased electricity production and are now exporting beyond South Africa to countries further afield in the region.

Procedures

Proper tendering procedures should have been adopted so that we ended up with a highly professional and sustainable project. That we need several alternative sources of energy is a matter of urgency but we cannot afford to repeat the same mistakes. The success of this initiative should lie with choosing a professional approach to do it. What should be made clear to the public is the transparent selection of the preferred partner otherwise the alternatives could render all those beautiful lights across the country one big dark investment that we can ill-afford.

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