Mobility platform Uber has about 20 000 drivers and delivery people earning an income through the Uber and Uber Eats apps in South Africa, which has more than 2.1-million active platform users, says newly appointed Uber sub-Saharan Africa GM Kagiso Khaole.

Uber, and Uber Eats, which focuses on restaurant deliveries, have collectively reached more than 30-million riders and eaters in sub-Saharan Africa since 2013, he adds.

Uber is available in more than 61 cities across seven countries in sub-Saharan Africa, namely South Africa, Ghana, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.

Drivers on the platform have recently completed one-billion trips in Africa.

“As we gear ourselves to mark our tenth anniversary next year, we are excited about moving into more cities, enabling people to go anywhere or get anything,” says Khaole.

In the last month, Uber has become operational in Owerri and Akure, in Nigeria; Eldoret, Kisumu, Nakuru and Naivasha, in Kenya; and Tamale and Sunyani, in Ghana.

“Every country is unique, so we take the time to understand each market’s needs so we can be responsive and adapt accordingly,” says Khaole.

“This has seen us launch new products across sub-Saharan Africa.”

These products includes UberX Share in Ghana and Nigeria, and Uber ChapChap Share in Kenya, all aimed at reducing rider costs and increasing demand for drivers.

These shared rides offerings allows users to save up to 30% of the trip fare when matched with a co-rider heading in the same direction. Where a match is not possible, users will still be able to save 5% from their ride.

“The introduction of UberX Share allows us to demonstrate the power of our platform – understanding the ability to match rider destinations while delivering convenience and affordability,” explains Khaole.

“We are a global company that builds locally. In Ghana and Nigeria we tapped into the local culture of car-pooling when moving around, which makes this product a great fit for the market.”

The new UberXL and UberVAN offerings also allow a number of people to travel together.

UberXL, launched in Nairobi, Kenya, provides seating for up to six people.

In South Africa, riders can now reserve their group travel 30 days in advance with UberXL Reserve and UberVAN Reserve.

“Core to introducing this product was the understanding that the lifting of Covid restrictions has fuelled local and international travel,” says Khaole.

“In South Africa, the convenience of booking your ride in advance, at the same time as booking for your flight, enhances one's travel experience.”

Uber Comfort, which is currently only available in South Africa and Côte d’Ivoire, is set to expand to Ghana.

“This bespoke offering is designed for riders looking for an upgrade to their everyday ride with extra comfort,” says Khaole.

“Uber Connect is one of the app’s most popular products available in South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda and Ghana,” he adds.

“Uber Connect is an on-demand delivery solution that allows users to send and receive packages with speed. The feature comes built-in with a pin verification, providing users peace of mind that their package is being delivered to the right person.”

Congestion, Safety Concerns

As one of the fastest-growing regions in the world, African cities present very real challenges when it comes to congestion, says Khaole.

“Safety is another challenge that we continue to face on the continent, which is why we are continuously looking at ways to innovate in response to the safety risks that come with moving around.”

Some notable safety features available in South Africa include the Emergency Assistance Button and Follow My Ride.

“We are also piloting our new Audio Recording feature that allows drivers and riders to record their trips and submit the recording to our support team in the event of a safety incident,” notes Khaole.

“We also have an incident response team which is available 24/7 to respond immediately to any reported incidents, and a law enforc...

South Africa lost the opportunity of moving R65.3-billion worth of goods during the recent 11 days of industrial action at the country’s ports, says South African Association of Freight Forwarders (SAAFF) CEO Dr Juanita Maree.

“Some of that will possibly move later, but the rest is gone – and gone forever.”

In contrast to this, the wage increase cost – if adopted across the board for all workers at Transnet – is R1.5-billion.

SAAFF represents more than 300 clearing and forwarding agents, accounting for more than 80% of the trade goods moving in and out of South Africa.

Maree says there is a need in the country for growing maturity in resolving matters amicably, in a timely and efficient manner, and to strengthen the partnerships between government and strategic stakeholders through early consultation to enable prevention rather than cure, “as risk mitigation is our joint responsibility to the smooth running of our national economy”.

“We must learn the stark lessons provided by these operational disasters, or we are going down an endless spiral with the worst possible outcome,” warns Maree.

“If goods can't move, the economy stops. And if the economy stops, the impact is hugely negative for anything related to the movement of cargo – including time, cost and service reliability.

“With the economy's circular flow, ordinary South Africans will suffer in the end – the very individuals who went on strike against a wage offer way below the inflation figure.”

One Day Strike Action = Ten Days Recovery

Maree says while SAAFF is” very pleased” that a wage agreement has finally been reached in the ports sector, the association must stress that the hard work only starts now.

“According to our consolidated reports, most port terminals are operating at productivity levels that are somewhere between medium and normal.

“So, although it might seem that we are making a return to full operational status, we are certainly not there yet,” she emphasises.

“In the aftermath, beyond the strike, barring any further destruction, a complete restoration of normal functionality will only happen in early 2023, as the consequences of one day's worth of stoppage have been shown to result in anything up to ten days needed for recovery.”

SA Can Do Better

South Africa must learn from this experience and adopt better operational practices to improve the country’s logistics performance, notes Maree.

“We reiterate that this can only be achieved by close collaboration between all the parties – business, labour and government.”

Maree proposes a number of solutions to grease the wheels of the South African logistics sector.

“We need backup port facilities to evacuate the ports.

“We have a high freight demand, therefore, only a multi-modal approach – with all parties operating efficiently – will have a chance of satisfying our demand.”

This means South Africa needs a robust functional rail sector, especially when moving goods from the country’s ports.

The country also needs precise policy alignment to allow for the practical execution of moving goods.

“The functioning of the supply chain, nor the economic extent of policies and actions that affect it, is clearly not fully understood by decision-makers,” says Maree.

“The government often asks the private sector to assist in picking up the cost, such as increased taxes and levies, but this help must be reciprocated with the private sector's . . . meaningful involvement in operations.”

Maree adds that South Africa needs port efficiency to improve in terms of the time, cost, and service reliability involved in moving goods.

“This approach must include inter and intra-port competition, and all functions must be overseen by a strong, independent ports regulator.”

All role-players are also to be held accountable for their performance, including business, labour and government, notes Maree.

In the end, South Africa needs to “evolve and mature as a nation” she adds.

“We cannot allow for ideology and self-interest to drive th...

The board of the South African National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) has announced the appointment of Reginald Lavhelesani Demana as the entity’s new CEO.

Demana’s appointment is subject to standard clearance and verification procedures.

Sanral has been without a permanent CEO since November last year.

Demana is currently a divisional executive at the State-owned Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), where he is responsible for a portfolio that covers the mining, metals, infrastructure and energy sectors.

He is a trained engineer and has more than 20 years’ working experience, including in the investment banking sector.

Demana’s expertise includes mergers and acquisitions, the structuring of empowerment deals, capital raising and general strategic corporate finance.

He was also the former CEO of JSE-listed coal mining and trading company Wescoal, which was recently renamed Salungano.

Demana began his professional working career as a mining engineering trainee with Anglo American Platinum, and then as a mine health and safety inspector with the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy.

He holds a BSc in Mining Engineering from the University of the Witwatersrand and a, MSc in Mining Engineering (with distinction) from Exeter University in the UK.

The Sanral board believes Demana will contribute towards the stabilisation of the road agency’s finances, particularly the toll portfolio, and that he will continue implementing the company’s mandate to plan, build and maintain the national road network “with the excellence associated with Sanral”, given his “impressive educational qualifications, experience in senior strategic positions and the leading roles he has played in corporate finance in general”.

Current acting CEO Lehlohonolo Memeza will continue in her role until Demana assumes responsibility.

“As soon as formal communication is received from the Minister of Transport, the board will finalise all processes relating to the appointment,” notes board chairperson Themba Mhambi.

As Rand Water increases its abstraction of water beyond its licence, it is pleading with consumers to use water wisely as the water it is currently over abstracting from dams needs to last multiple seasons and not just one.

The water trading entity, on average, supplies 4 642-million litres of water a day to municipalities, with a capacity to peak at 5 036-million litres a day, which is beyond its abstraction licence, to ensure 17.9-million consumers across four provinces are provided with water.

The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) temporarily increased Rand Water’s bulk water allocation as an emergency measure to address water shortages in South Africa’s economic hub.

The self-funded bulk water trading entity, with more than a 3 000 km interconnected network, has, year-on-year produced more water than has been budgeted for as it delivers bulk water supply to 18 municipalities, which accounts for 80% of water use as it reticulates and distributes to consumers.

In recent weeks, consumer water demand, particularly across Gauteng, has surged, reaching as high as 300 litres per person a day, with higher non-drinking water use, well above the worldwide average of 173 litres and South Africa’s average of 233 litres a day.

Just in the first quarter of 2023, water use climbed 5.2%.

This high demand amid a heat wave with late rainfall, in addition to excessively high nonrevenue water and leaks, with a loss of up to 40% in the distribution system, is placing strain on Rand Water’s ability to keep apace and ensure a buffer at its reservoirs.

“Every suburb has water,” says Rand Water CEO Sipho Mosai. However, he notes that, with low-lying areas using excess water for non-drinking purposes, high-lying areas face shortages, owing to an inability to pressurise water supply upwards as reservoirs are depleted.

Further, he says that should the country experience a drought, there needs to be enough water in the dams to feed the reservoirs during any potential dry period.

At the rate water is being consumed, there will be no buffer for next season, despite the dams currently being full.

“The water we have will not last until next season,” he tells media during a briefing at the entity’s headquarters on Friday, noting that the current high water requirements and over abstraction is just not sustainable.

“We have provided and we have planned for the demand; however, we need to use what we have responsibility,” he says, citing a drop in water use during the rainfall this week as there was no need to use drinking water for irrigation.

“The easiest way out is to use less water or build more infrastructure now and pay more money for water.”

Rand Water has a significant pipeline of infrastructure projects designed in line with predicted demand; however, the current demand requires unplanned additional infrastructure should it continue. This will cause the price of water to surge, an extra cost already cash-strapped consumers will not be able to shoulder.

The reservoirs are also required to be at a safe zone in case of power outages, which is also causing significant concern for the water trading entity, as following a power outage, it takes about four to five days for a reservoir to recover.

He cites the recent power outages that left many Johannesburg suburbs without water.

On September 23, a power failure at Rand Water’s Vereeniging water works resulted in a 50% reduction in bulk water supply to the Eikenhof pump station, impacting the high-lying areas of the Crosby, Brixton and Hurst Hill Supply zones.

Before the system could recover fully, Rand Water’s Vereeniging works experienced a total power failure on September 25 just after midnight, following which, on September 29, Rand Water experienced a pump trip at their Eikenhof system for about three hours, reducing the pump station capacity by 40%.

Further, Rand Water had a power supply issue on September 30 at their Zuikerbosh purification works, which again had a 60% impact on the supply...

Engineering News Editor Terence Creamer discusses the latest developments with regard to South Africa's Just Energy Transition Partnership Investment Plan; Cabinet's endorsement of the plan; and the ongoing debate about the best uses of these concessional funds.

Enviro Automotive is set to launch its first battery electric panel van in the local market – the DFSK EC35.

Enviro Automotive is the importer and distributor of Chinese-made DFSK electric vehicles (EVs).

MD Gideon Wolvaardt says his company aims to assist transport operators and entrepreneurs who wish to convert to commercial electric vehicles (CEVs) and EVs, be it for cost and/or environmental reasons.

“The company’s approach shows the market that going electric is simple, accessible and sustainable.”

The current focus is on CEVs, adds Wolvaardt. At this stage, the South African market has access to the DFSK EC-series electric panel van and 1-ton bakkie.

The first big shipment of panel vans is already on the water, and the bakkies – a workhorse, not a lifestyle vehicle – are in their final testing cycle, notes Wolvaardt.

“The bakkie will most probably be launched in the first quarter of 2023.

“Next year first semester will see the launch of a four-ton EV truck.”

Following this, Enviro Automotive will introduce what it calls “an affordable EV mid-sized car. We are currently in the process of final negotiations.”

Wolvaardt tells Engineering News Online that the company’s business model is not solely focussed on DFSK EVs, as it includes more than one brand, so as “to offer different products to different target markets with different mobility needs”.

“The truck is from Dayun, for example. At this stage, however, it is only Chinese brands.”

“We don’t want to announce the EV car brand yet, because of a nondisclosure agreement and of where we are with the contract negotiations,” he adds.

Wolvaardt says Enviro Automotive currently has two dealer outlets in Gauteng.

“We are finalising our distribution strategy and dealer/agent list, which will be announced at the official launch of the panel van later this year, or early next year.

“Customers will be supported by our technical teams at dealer level and head office level,” he notes.

“The great thing about CEVs is that they need minimum maintenance, so we don’t need a lot of traditional dealerships with lots of service and maintenance parts and people.”

When considering the South African market, Wolvaardt believes the local CEV sector will gain momentum “very quickly because of the massive cost savings and efficiencies” made possible through electrification.

“It is a rational decision-making process with cost benefits, while it also assists companies in reducing their carbon footprint.

“On the passenger EV side, however, it will take longer to see the use of products by the masses because it is expensive at this stage.

“The buying motivators for an EV for private use and a CEV are very different,” says Wolvaardt. “For EVs it will be emotional, but for CEVs it is primarily cost-driven.”

The EC35

Chinese automaker DFSK (Dongfeng Sokon Automobile) is a joint venture between Dongfeng Motor Company and the Chongqing Sokon Industry Group.

Following the introduction of its C-Series range of delivery bakkies and panel vans in 2009, the company extended the range by introducing the battery-electric EC35 panel van and EC31 bakkie in 2018.

The load compartment of the two-seater EC35 to be launched in South Africa is accessible via sliding doors on both sides of the panel van, as well as the tailgate.

The vehicle offers a payload of 1 015 kg and a loading space of 4.8 m³.

The EC35 is equipped with a single synchronous electric motor that produces 60 kW and 200 Nm of torque.

It also features a 38.7 kWh lithium-iron phosphate battery.

Charging the battery will cost R56.50, promises Enviro Automotive, yielding a travel distance of up to 270 km, depending on the load and traffic conditions.

With a fast charger, the battery could be charged from zero to 80% in less than an hour.

The EC35 features antilock braking and electric power steering.

The panel van also has air-conditioning, a reverse camera, rear parking sensors, Bluetooth and a touchscreen infotainment system.

It is backed by DFSK’s three-...

Steel producer ArcelorMittal South Africa (AMSA) on October 20 launched its newly acquired ArcelorMittal Rail and Structures (AMRAS) facility.

This follows the successful acquisition of the former Highveld Structural Mill in eMalahleni, a transaction which was effective from August.

The official launch of the AMRAS facility was undertaken by Trade, Industry and Competition Minister Ebrahim Patel, who commented that, with this being the sole mainline rail production facility in South Africa and on the continent, it showcased the country and region’s ambitions to be a globally competitive player in the steel market and to bringing back its past mainline rail production capacity.

He congratulated all stakeholders for bringing this to fruition, especially given that the facility was slated to be lost following the closure of Highveld Steel and Vanadium.

Patel also highlighted the localisation benefits the facility would provide, with it slated to produce R500-million worth of products and displace close R1-billion of products that would otherwise have been imported.

The facility already produces rail line products for sale to mining companies and the products are also set to be exported.

The importance of localisation was reiterated by AMSA CEO Kobus Verster, who said the products needed for railway infrastructure development and rolling stock could all be sourced and developed in South Africa.

Since 2017, while operating the heavy structural mill under contract, AMSA localised about 80 000 t/y of heavy structural sections, replacing about R10-billion a year of imported steel with local South African production for the past five years.

With the conclusion of this acquisition, AMSA will create about 250 quality and permanent manufacturing sector jobs.

Patel explained that this constitutes 200 temporary jobs becoming permanent ones, and 50 additional jobs being created.

Patel lauded the impact this job creation would have on individuals, as well as the positive impact this would have on building the local community.

The acquisition of this facility is posited to provide AMSA with an African edge to producing heavy-gauge mainline rail products to high-quality standards and to facilitate extended opportunities to address the critical railway infrastructure programmes in the region.

Verster said the acquisition would enable the company to deliver global research and development and best-in-class operational practices of heavy structural rolling mills in South Africa.

This would be leveraged from the group’s expertise in manufacturing heavy structural sections and rails, with global plants around the world supplying specialised structural steel products.

GROWTH PROSPECTS

Verster also touched on AMSA’s restructuring process and strategy from the past few months, noting that this was aimed at returning the company to profitability and creating sustainable operations.

He said AMSA has enjoyed reasonable success in this regard; however, this had entailed the difficult process of adjusting its footprint and closing down some operations.

Verster highlighted some positive as ASMSA having diversified its raw material base, which has enabled access to the network for smaller companies.

“A sustainable and profitable steel industry, which includes several players, is vital to ensure growth of the South African economy and for it to be a key player as the country looks to reindustrialise,” he outlined.

Verster also emphasised the importance of decarbonisation to AMSA, with the company largely in alignment with the global ArcelorMittal group’s targets of a 25% reduction in carbon emission by 2030, and to be carbon neutral by 2050.

Verster said this would entail a three-pronged approach, mainly, a focus on renewable energy and energy efficiency; operational efficiency; and carbon capture.

“AMSA will look to pursue growth opportunities as they arise; and will also support South Africa in its development aims,: Verster outlined.

In this vein, Patel ...

Cabinet has officially endorsed the Just Energy Transition Partnership Investment Plan (JETP-IP) following a presentation it received at its latest meeting, held on Wednesday October 19.

“After welcoming a presentation on the JETP and the JETP-IP, Cabinet endorsed the

JETP-IP and expressed its appreciation for the detailed work undertaken to develop it,” the Cabinet statement released on October 20 reads.

The statement notes that the JETP-IP outlines the investments required to achieve the decarbonisation commitments made by government, while promoting sustainable development, and ensuring a just transition for affected workers and communities.

In a post-Cabinet briefing Minister in the Presidency Mondli Gungubele said that more details on the JETP-IP - which is backed by France, Germany, the US, the UK and the European Union and which is expected to be formally endorsed at the COP27 climate negotiations in Egypt next month - would be provided during a briefing that will be hosted soon by the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Climate Change.

At COP26 in Scotland last year the JETP partners made an $8.5-billion offer to support South Africa’s transition away from coal and to support workers and communities that could be negatively affected by such a shift.

Following COP26, South Africa established a Presidential Climate Finance Task Team, headed Daniel Mminele, to finalise the JETP-IP, which is expected to focus primarily on electricity sector projects, including much-needed investment into the grid, but also include funding support for the development of electric vehicle and green hydrogen industries.

This week, Eskom CEO André de Ruyter again stressed the need for the bulk of the funding to be directed the way of the electricity sector and questioned the desirability of diverting concessional funds to the other two sectors.

In the case of green hydrogen, he noted that surplus green electrons were a precondition for the industry’s development and that that precondition was currently absent in a context where Eskom was having to implement loadshedding to stabilise the grid.

De Ruyter also questioned whether concessional funding should flow to automotive companies and their shareholders.

Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Minister Barbara Creecy noted that the $8.5-billion would translate to about R150-billion, which fell well short of the more than R1-trillion South Africa required over the period to transition to an energy system aligned with the decarbonisation pledge.

However, she expressed the hope that the funding would serve as a catalyst for further private investment in support of the transition and encourage stakeholders to comment on the JETP-IP, which she said would be released for public consultation before year-end.

Eskom told lawmakers on Wednesday that a fire in the gas air heater of Kusile Unit 5, which occurred during a commissioning exercise on September 17, represented a major “setback” and could delay the 800 MW unit’s entry into commercial operation by up to a year.

Under the revised scheduled for the much-delayed Kusile build programme, Unit 5 was expected to enter into commercial operation in December 2023.

Addressing a Standing Committee on Public Accounts meeting, COO Jan Oberholzer said the cause of the fire had not yet been determined by the contractor, Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems, which he referred to as MHI, but that sabotage was not currently suspected.

He noted that a similar incident had occurred during the commissioning of Kusile Unit 2, which had delayed the introduction of the unit by 12 months, and that a similar delay was, thus, being assumed preliminarily for Unit 5.

Eskom expected to receive details outlining MHI’s new commissioning plan for the unit by Sunday, October 23, but Oberholzer confirmed that the fire represented a major setback, particularly in a context where the utility urgently required additional generation capacity to reduce the risk of loadshedding.

“Unfortunately I have to be open that unit number five will not be placed into commercial operation by December 2023,” he said, signalling that initial indications were that the unit might achieve that milestone only in December 2024.

“Again, I need to emphasise that this was during the commissioning of that specific component and we don't believe that there was any foul play.”

The commercial implications were still being calculated, but it was estimated that it would add some R150-million a month to Kusile’s interest during construction (IDC).

Work on Unit 6, meanwhile, was continuing and it remained on schedule for commercial operation by the middle of 2024, with efforts under way to bring that date forward to May 2024.

MEDUPI UNIT 4

At Medupi meanwhile, where all six units were in commercial operation prior to a catastrophic hydrogen explosion at Unit 4 in 2021, Eskom was planning to return Unit 4 to service only in September 2024.

This, together with extended maintenance at the Koeberg nuclear station – which had been further prolonged because the replacement of the three steam generators at Unit 2 had to be postponed earlier this year owing to Eskom’s failure to complete the required containment facility on time – would increase the risk of power cuts.

The energy-short grid would be without at least one unit of Koeberg for a period of about a year and a half, which would increase the intensity of loadshedding by one stage every time it was implemented.

Nevertheless, Oberholzer expressed confidence that Koeberg would secure its life-extension licence before the current licence expired in mid-2024.

Oberholzer again confirmed that the Koeberg life-extension capital expenditure was far higher than the R20-billion announced in 2010, but said he could not yet provide the new value.

Lawmakers were also provided an update on the cost and cost to completion of both Medupi and Kusile, which were set to cost R145-billion and R161.4-billion to complete respectively, before IDC.

The remaining cost to complete Kusile was stated as being R14-billion, while the figure for Medupi was pegged at R18.95-billion.

The Medupi figure excluded the cost of installing flue gas desulphurisation (FGD), which could involve an additional R35- to R40-billion and remained a condition of a World Bank loan that had been raised to help fund the project.

CEO André de Ruyter reported that the FGD technology installed at Kusile was a single point of failure and that trips associated with the plant were a key reason for Kusile’s poor energy availability factor (EAF) currently.

Eskom was pursuing an operations and maintenance contract with General Electric, which supplied the FGD to Kusile, in an effort to improve the plant’s performance.

The utility, which has never before oper...

South Africa’s Just Energy Transition Partnership (JET-P) investment plan, which will seek to unlock $8.5-billion in concessional funding for decarbonisation projects as well as for coal worker and community support programmes, is currently in the Cabinet process ahead of its anticipated launched during the COP27 climate negotiations to be held in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt next month.

Addressing a Standard Bank climate conference on Tuesday, Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Minister Barbara Creecy also reported that the JET-P investment plan, once launched, would be released for public comment.

“We are obviously urging that you would look at it, that you would understand it, that you would see how it lays out a vision for the way in which we would want to support the transition in these three sectors [of electricity, electric vehicles and green hydrogen].

“And what we're very sincerely hoping is that [the plan] would create appetite from the private sector and would begin to mobilise the significant quantities of financing that we're going to need over the next ten years,” Creecy said.

She again stressed that, while the $8.5-billion being offered by the JET-P partners of France, Germany, the US, the UK and the European Union would translate to about R150-billion, it nevertheless fell well short of the more than R1-trillion South Africa required over the period to transition to an energy system aligned with the decarbonisation pledge it made at COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland in 2021.

Creecy underlined the economic risks of not moving fast enough to decarbonise, highlighting that both Italian and Indian buyers of South African forest fibre used in garment manufacturing had cautioned her as the minister responsible for forestry that they would seek alternative sources of supply unless South Africa halved the carbon content of its forest fibre by 2030.

While some of the country’s main trading partners were planning to impose carbon border adjustment measures from 2026, Creecy warned that, even absent such restrictions, South Africa’s top exports by value would become vulnerable to changes in global demand as countries decarbonised.

That said, she stressed that the country’s recently adopted Just Transition Framework insisted on the transition being implemented in such a way as to ensure that it not only enhanced energy security but also assisted the country in dealing with economic inclusion, job creation and poverty alleviation.

“The climate transition has to assist us with our overall challenges as a developing country.”

TRANSITION ‘INEVITABLE’ BUT NOT A ‘BINARY DEBATE’

Speaking on the same platform, Eskom CEO André de Ruyter described the energy transition as inevitable, saying “you just cannot hold back this wave with your bare hands, it is going to happen”.

Nevertheless, he contested the proposition that the transition was a “binary debate” between coal and renewables.

“Eskom, and hence South Africa, will be a very substantial consumer of coal for a very long period of time to come.

“So the notion that somehow we will succumb to pressure from the ‘Global North’ to sterilise all of our natural resources to satisfy pressure from international lenders is simply not substantiated by the facts.”

Instead, as South Africa’s old coal fleet reached retirement age it was uneconomical to extend their lives in a context where renewables provided the lowest-cost new electricity and could be built faster than any of the alternatives.

There was also appetite, De Ruyter noted, from investors to make “risk-based investments” in renewable energy, without government guarantees, pointing by way of example to the recently announced Eskom land-lease deal in Mpumalanga for a possible 2 000 MW of new capacity.

He then challenged South African bankers to “start taking more risk” and wean themselves off their “addiction to National Treasury guarantees”.

“Now I know that it's tied up with a single-buyer model, [but] as soon as we open up the market,...