News from Wakanda: Power Shortages Worsen

 A little over a week ago, BNN Bloomberg reported that "South Africa Faces Most Severe Nationwide Power Cuts in Months." Per the article, "state-owned power utility Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. announced that it would implement so-called Stage 6 outages — taking 6,000 megawatts of demand off the grid — from midnight Saturday [February 10] until further notice." This, even though the utility had returned two units to operation. The reason for the outages was that two other units were being taken off line, apparently because of the need to replenish two pumped storage dams. 

    But there may be more to this than just poor maintenance and the run-of-the-mill corruption common to Africa. Energy Central, in its article, "South Africa’s Power Cuts: Sabotage, politics, and election fears cloud the grid" published last week, notes a connection between the outages and pronouncements from the Democratic Alliance (DA), a main opposition party to the ANC in South Africa. 

    At the heart of the [outages] issue lies Eskom, the country’s primary electricity supplier, plagued by aging infrastructure, financial woes, and reports of sabotage at its facilities. In 2022, Eskom reported instances of interference at key power stations, including Koeberg, Hendrina, Tutuka, and Camden.

    However, the crisis escalated in 2023, with daily outages lasting up to 12 hours becoming the norm. This fueled speculation and suspicion, leading to reports suggesting links between the power sector issues and political figures or parties.

    One key focus is the Democratic Alliance (DA), a main opposition party. A leaked letter, allegedly addressed to a DA employee, mentions recommendations for actions in the energy sector, coinciding with the timing of increased power disruptions.

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    The DA has publicly advocated for Eskom’s privatization, arguing it could improve management and address sabotage. However, this stance, coupled with the pre-election timing of the outages, has raised questions about potential manipulation of voter sentiment.

    Adding another layer of concern are observations that power outages are less frequent in areas where DA leaders reside. This, coupled with the party’s stance on privatization, has sparked discussions about the potential use of energy management as a political strategy.

However, even this may be disinformation by the ANC seeking to discredit the DA, which is viewed as a more moderate, "classical liberal" party versus the corrupt, socialist ANC.