Date: 13/02/2008
Source: Department of Minerals and Energy
Title: SA: Sonjica: Debate on State of the Nation Address

Input by Minister of Minerals and Energy, Buyelwa Sonjica, during the debate on President Thabo Mbeki's State of the Nation Address, National Assembly, Parliament, Cape Town

Madame speaker
Honourable President Thabo Mbeki
Honourable Deputy President, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka
Honourable members

Let me start by expressing my humble appreciation to all South Africans for the overwhelming support that they are giving to us as we deal with the energy situation in the country. South Africans have reacted positively to our calls in cash and in kind, all of this done with one resolve of bringing stability to the electricity system.

This has reminded me of the wise words of President Mandela appreciating such positiveness among South Africans. He said: "there is goodwill among men and women of South Africa". I want to repeat what Minister Erwin and the Chief Executive Officer of Anglo American PLC, Cynthia Carroll, who said that there is no crisis of electricity in South Africa, but that there is an emergency that requires us to act swiftly and acting swiftly we are.

I want to invite all those South Africans who still want to reach out to us and offer solutions, as well as those looking for information and wanting to raise concerns. They must use the following toll free number: 0860 109 091. This number will be operational from the 27th of February.

Mongameli obekekileyo, mandithathe le nxaxheba ukwenza umbulelo kuwe nosekela mongameli, ingakumbi ngokuncedisa ekukhokeleni eli phulo lokubuyisela imo yombane wase Mzantsi Afrika kwimeko yawo yangaphambili. Ndiphinde ndibulele ukhongolosi ngokuzibophelelal kwiphulo lokonga umbane. Aba bathetha ngathi kufike umgwebo kweli lizwe apho yonke into seyiphasalaka banemibuzo abafanele bakhe bayiphendule evela kuninzi labantu belilizwe.

Nantsi le mibuzo:

* Babephi ngexesha sasihamba kwizitalato eziqhumayo ezimnyama kuthi lakutshona ilanga woyike nokuya evenkileni. Mna ndithetha ngelokishi ezi babezakhile. Ngexesha apho umbane wawaungekho ezindlwini, futhi obhetele ingumbane wabe lungu.

* Babephi ngelaxesha iilali yayizindawo ezazibonwa njengendawo okwakuhlala abantu ababeyokulahlwa yada le meko yaqiniswa ngomgaqo siseko owazisa inkqubo ka zimele geqe, apho ke yatyiwa imali ngaphandle kokuphuhlisa indawo zabantu neelali ngokupheleleyo.

* Babephi aba bantu, ngexa abantu babehlala kwifama, ezitolosheni, kunzima kubaqeshi babo ukutsalela imizana nje emithathu umbane betsalela abasebenzi babo. Ubusithi xa uhamba ngemoto udlula emaphandleni ubone ngokuqhakaza kombane ukuba yindlu yomlungu leya. Asizange silive ilizwi lababantu ngelo xesha bekhalima besithi kurhulumente wengcinezelo unyasha amalungelo abantu ngokungabaniki iinkonzo ezisisiseko sokuphucula impilo yabo. Babethule mu! beyolelwe, bephila impilo engcono beligcudwana.

Mongameli, thina bantu bayiqhelieyo le nto sikulungele ukuvuka siyibambe, siyibambe ngempondo futhi. Neli idabi sizakulinqoba.

Le nto yokwenza ngathi bazintshatsheli, amatshantliziyo alwela amahlwempu, iimpula ka lujaca, siyayazi ukuba ayinjalo, kukubhuda nje kwepolitiki okungenanyaniso. Phofu ke incedile iANC ibafundise ngokuzisa urhulumente wabantu, ibafundise ukuba ukulingana oku ngento yonke kungakhethe bala yinto enokwenzeka, kwaye iyile yenzekayo ngoku.

Le ngxolo ingenantsusa, ingamapholi, yokuba lo rhulumente ufedile ukufezekisa iimnfuno zabantu indikhumbuza ngo 1994 ngexa kwakuyimiqokozo ezivenkileni kuthengwa iparafini namakhandlela kulungiselelwa umgwebo owawuzakuza nokuphatha komntu omnyama. Kuba nangoku sesihambe umgama ongaka ukutshintsha impilo yabantu kusekho oTomas noxa beyibona inguqu.

Namhlanje mongameli phantsi kolawulo lika African National Congress nokhokelo lwakho no Madiba sekusele imizi engange 2,3 million ezingenambane kwizigidi ezingama 6,1 ngo 1994.

The President, in his State of the Nation Address said: "The entirety of our system of governance is therefore making the commitment that in the period ahead of us it will do its best to live up to the imperative - Business Unusual". Indeed this is the approach that we have taken in dealing with the emergency situation that we are in and the results are beginning to show. Surely, Mr President in spite of our achievements as a country, we cannot be complacent; it is not yet Uhuru. We want to see our economy continue to grow. We have worked hard to reach the levels of growth we see to date. It has been sweat and toil to deliver electricity and other services to our people and this, unprecedented in our country. These are our gains Mr President; the gains of the ANC in government and if anybody stands to lose if something goes amiss, it is us, specifically the ANC, but most importantly it is the least privileged South Africans who will be hardest hit.

For us, the mandate that the ANC gave us to create a better life, we will pursue until indeed there is better life for all.

Mr President and honourable members, I would now like to report to the people of South Africa on the developments thus far in the roll out of the Power Conservation Programme, which is a key strategy in our short to medium term interventions.

The energy efficiency roll out plan is already in place. One vital component thereof, the roll out of the Candescent Fluorescent Light bulbs, will start by the end of February 2008. We will be distributing the candescent fluorescent light bulbs (CFL) where the public will be asked to exchange their energy inefficient bulbs for the energy efficient ones. We will start with government, targeting civil servants and parastatals, including everybody within these institutions.

The broader programme will start in the Gauteng province and then rolled out to other provinces, to major metros and cities, covering all households and all energy users throughout the country. We plan to supply the Constituency Offices as well. We also intend to launch the Schools' Energy Awareness Campaign in May this year. Going forward with the campaign and working with local government, we will supply the indigent households with free energy efficient bulbs until 2015.

We will continue to work with local government and South African Local Government Association (SALGA) to solicit the services of Community Development Workers (CDWs) and the National Youth Service (NYS) who will help us with the roll out to everybody.

The programme will be rolled out with the assistance of the Energy Services Companies (ESCOs) and it has a potential to create a number of jobs, as this will involve largely the simple replacement of a bulb. The South African National Defence Force has pledged to assist by escorting the teams replacing bulbs at household level to ensure smooth running of the programme. We are working on the programme to ensure proper co-ordination of all these efforts and initiatives.

I would like to bring to the attention of the honourable members that there is a policy intervention and legislative framework that underpins this process. The electricity regulations have been revised to include energy efficient technologies. These regulations are out for broader stakeholder inputs and comments are more than welcome. As we speak, Clicks has phased out the sale of incandescent (inefficient) light bulbs in their retail stores, and we urge other retail outlets to please follow suit.

The Solar Water Heating programme which was piloted through the Central Energy Fund (EDG) has been completed with a total of 500 solar water heating units already installed in a number of households in the country. The preliminary results indicate that solar water heating systems are energy efficient and excellent at energy saving. The second phase of this programme will start in the new financial year, with a total of 90 000 solar water heating systems installed in the greater Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality in Port Elizabeth. The Eskom solar water heating programme is currently being implemented and the intention is to roll out about one million units in the next three years, and these units will be subsidised, and the subsidy will be scaled depending on the size of the unit that is being installed.

The Department of Minerals and Energy, within the Renewable Energy Finance and Subsidy Office (REFSO), will also subsidise the rollout of solar water heating units and will provide a 20 percent subsidy for these units per household.

We will also implement the solar lighting project within government buildings. This will ensure that at least 10 percent of lighting and electricity provision in these buildings is provided through Solar Photovoltaic (PVs). This project will be completed at the end of the next financial year, 2008/09.

The project of Solar Traffic lights will be implemented jointly by the Department of Minerals and Energy, the National Energy Efficiency Agency (NEEA) and a number of municipalities which have pledged to invest in it. The DME, in partnership with the National Energy Efficiency Agency will invest a total of R100 million in the first year to retrofit traffic lights in major intersections throughout the country, starting in Johannesburg. The intention is to do 200 traffic lights in the first year. There have been financial pledges from a number of private sector companies to assist and fund some of the identified intersections. At the moment, a total of R500 million has been pledged from the private sector companies to assist in this programme and this will help us fast track the project throughout the country over the next three years.

In conveying the energy efficiency message, we will be using the services of the energy champions referred to by the President in the State of the Nation Address. A comprehensive communication strategy is being developed for the awareness campaign. We are also inviting the 37 companies that are signatories to the Energy Efficiency Accord, who had voluntarily pledged to reduce their energy consumption to support us by sharing the benefits that have accrued to them in the course of their implementing the energy efficiency programme. These companies have managed to reduce considerably their consumption and their operational costs. These are lessons that they can share with others.

We have on a number of occasions assured South Africans that we will work hard to minimise the impact of the electricity emergency on investments. We have also indicated that 2010 projects are not under threat. We have treated 2010 as a special project in terms of ensuring securing security of supply for hosting cities. We will still work to ensure that South Africa as a country has sufficient supply given that the international focus will be on us.

On the side of delivery of electricity as a basic service to our people we want to allay the fears that we will suspend or slow down this programme.

Sizakuqhubekeka nokwakha ubuxhakaxhaka bemibhobho ezakusa umbane kubantu bethu. Sinako ukuqhubekeka kuba ngenxa yokungakhathalelwa kwendawo zasemaphandleni, zisesemva ngobubuxhakaxhaka obungundoqo ekuziseni umbane eluntwini. Siyaqinisekisa sizakubufaka obubuxhakaxhaka phambi kokuba sikwazi ukulayita umbane. Ngoko ke le nkqubo ayizikuphazamisa okanye itye umbane ngoba sizakube singekawusebenzisi umbane. Kwakhona ngokophando olwenziwe lisebe lam, kufumaniseka into yokokuba abantu abahlelekileyo nabahlala kwindawo ezisemaphandleni abawusebenzisi kakhulu umbane.

On the skills-shortage issue, I want to support the call made by Eskom that all South Africans that have the critical skills that we need must come forward to assist us in the spirit of unity and patriotism. In this regard, I would urge that we move away from destructive comments that those who were not part of this sector be seen to be the ones that have contributed, to a certain extent, to the problems that we are experiencing today.

As one caller yesterday on SAfm suggested that affirmative action was responsible for bringing inadequately qualified people into the system. Even those that claim to have the expertise, experience and knowledge today were once novices before and they were given an opportunity to make mistakes in the process of their growth to become today's experts. They are the ones who are reluctant to share this knowledge with the young and upcoming for the benefit of the country because they want to maintain a monopoly over this knowledge. I am calling on all of us to be positive in dealing with this, there is so much for all of us.

There is a long-term positive impact of energy efficiency measures on the economy. This has been proven elsewhere, and the examples are by both the Brazilian and Cuban experiences. These measures would also impact positively on the country's green house gas emissions and levels. Mr President, we thank you for reminding us that this challenge is also an opportunity to drive development.

Madame speaker, as the saying goes: "every cloud has a silver lining". The silver lining with this emergency is the creation of jobs. The National Energy Efficiency Agency (NEEA) is already looking for relevant people to beef up their capacity. The manufacturing of EE bulbs in Lesotho will also contribute to employment opportunities in the region. But we have to look at our own capacity to manufacture some of these energy efficient appliances. At an appropriate time we will take stock of these achievements.

As the President correctly mentioned during the State of the Nation Address, we welcome suggestions and tips on how to improve energy efficiency. As I said earlier, we have set up a toll free number in this regard and it will be operational by the end of February. Further, there is a website available on http://www.energysaving.co.za where South Africans are welcome to share ideas.

In conclusion, we will be reporting progress as it unfolds through the relevant channels. I want to reiterate the President as he was quoting Ms Cynthia Carroll, "Sure, the problems here are serious; overcoming them will require ingenuity, especially in energy efficiency and energy saving, as well as the development of alternative power supplies. But if all of us can forge strong partnerships to tackle the situation, we will all come through - I hope relatively unscathed....This is not a time for finger pointing, but for working together in finding solutions."

We further appeal to people to continue to support the ten-point plan we presented for conservation and other initiatives like the energy alerts.

I am confident, Mr President, that with the positive attitude that prevails in the country we shall ride the storm.

I thank you.

Issued by: Department of Minerals and Energy
13 February 2008