Mining Indaba: Mantashe calls on investors to put money as he unveils load shedding plans

South African mineral resources and energy minister Gwede Mantashe has urged investors to put money into the local economy.

Mantashe was speaking during the ongoing Mining Indaba that is held in Cape Town and said the government had the plan to resolve load-shedding.

During his opening address, Mantashe also presented a four-point plan that he said would help to overcome load-shedding within the next 12 months.

“This proposal has been put forward to resolve load-shedding and it will give us space to work on long-term energy security,” Mantashe said according to Mail & Guardian.

As the country continues to grapple with the devastating load-shedding, the power cuts challenge is expected to be a key talking point at the 29th annual Investing in African Mining Indaba that is currently underway in the Mother City.

The minister said the country parted ways with an estimated R1 billion a day last year due to rolling blackouts implemented by Eskom.

According to the report, power supply disruptions in 2022 had led to a “decline in mineral production across all commodities”, he said.

“At the centre of our current energy challenges is the decline in the energy availability factor from an estimated 75% to 49%. Therefore, the most feasible and logical option to exercise to resolve load-shedding is by arresting the decline in the energy availability factor,” said Mantashe.

“Failure to attend to and address the declining Eskom plant performance and subsequent higher stages of load-shedding is an irritation to society and has the potential of pitting society against the government.

“Releasing more renewable energy is a good idea for sustainability in the long term but, if you upload a project for renewable energy, it will not stop load-shedding by the weekend.

“You need time to build the facility and then it takes time to contribute to the reduction of load-shedding. But what is important at this point in time is to pay attention to the decline in electricity availability. And that is why we have the proposal to try to resolve load-shedding.” 

Looking at his proposals, he said the first point of the plan was improving the energy availability factor through the focused, funded, and planned maintenance of existing power stations, said the minister.

The second point was the procurement of emergency or short-term power from existing facilities and private power plants, secondly, he said the purchase of additional electricity from neighbouring countries, which could happen in the short to medium term.

His final point was focusing on improving skills capacity at the embattled power utility – South Africa has been experiencing the worst load-shedding since rolling blackouts started 16 years ago.