How rolling power cuts have brought Cape Town – and South Africa – to its knees
An escalating energy crisis leaves Africa’s most industrialised nation with daily electricity rationing to stop the national grid collapsing
You know, nationalised industries work so well. And putting the Marxists in charge of them was even better.
One of the joys of the capitalist and free market system is that you only get paid – only make a profit – when you actually deliver the goods being paid for. Because that’s the only time you get paid, see?
Well the massive corruption and endemic crime doesn’t help.
As it says in the article
Thieves have been known to target pylons, railways and other infrastructure to steal metal and cabling.
No doubt this stolen metal finds its way in backhanders to the ANC crime lords, I mean local politicians.
A wieird thing recently in Hong Kong is that Hong Kong Electric have recently just received a bonus after a power cut.
Technical info: The power companies’ profit level is capped. If they fix a system-wide power cut within 65 minutes the cap is raised as an incentive for speedy action. Some recent maintainance work indvartantly connected the wrong system, causing a power-protection shutdown to large parts of Central. They speedily rectified the problem.
I was in Cape Town three years ago and no issues with power at all.
I have friends staying there at the moment and the whole things has collapsed. They had to buy a huge UPS to keep the basics going… What a shitfest…
I can be smug about this the power supply here will be okay, no chance of us closing down all the reliable sopurces of electricity in favour of grifters and woo. Is there?
I often wonder about their suitability to be part of BRICS.
John, I hear the organisation is undergoing a change, with Portugal replacing Brazil, in which case the new acronym will be more fitting for South Africa’s membership…
‘no chance of us closing down all the reliable sources of electricity in favour of grifters and woo. Is there?’
Of course this won’t happen in Oz either, Bloke in Scotland.
John – I’m sure China would be delighted to provide reliable electricity to resource-rich South Africa.
For a price.
Steve
A clearer example of the ‘White Supremacy’ inherent in the post colonial world would be harder to find. I imagine supply will be limited to blacks only
More ammo for the Cape Independence movement.
I understand the Frogs built the nukes at Koeberg for the white Saffers so the black revolutionaries in Jo’burg couldn’t cut off power to an area that didn’t support the ANC.
The 40 year life-span of the reactors ends in 2024. So they now need considerable work, eg replacing the steam generators, to extend it for another 20 years. Unit one is on a long term outage.
And unit two tripped early on Sat morning. Though it’s now returned to full operation this evening.
(https://www.news24.com/news24/community-newspaper/tygerburger/koeberg-unit-2-back-online-after-outage-20230418-2)
ANC preached the Marxist creed that there is a fixed amount of wealth. The rich take the biggest slices of the wealth pie, leaving the poor with slivers. So, get rid of the rich and then the poor will get their rightful share of the big slices.
In South Africa, ‘White’ was substituted for ‘rich’.
As one South African put it: “I’ll be staying indoors the day after the election, I don’t want to be hit by all the BMWs and bungalows raining down.”
I was in Cape Town and thereabouts for a few weeks earlier this year. Still a marvellous place to holiday, but their inability to provide power is sending the nation into the abyss. The power was off for 4-10 hours in 24 every day I was there. Larger businesses and richer people buy generators and UPS, everyone else just suffers. Even in prosperous spots, lots of small shops have closed. The inability to irrigate has hit crop production.
The Western Cape is in a better state than the rest of the country thanks to non-ANC government, but it’s still a shitshow.
Thanks MC. I’ve been curious about experimental evidence of how things’ll go when they shut down the evil coal burners in eastern Australia.
Of course, if we have any sense we’ll vote the turds out. However that sense does appear to be lacking at present.