How incompetents switched off South Africa's electricity

It is the year 2008, and suddenly there is not enough electricity to power the country. All major business districs and house holds are switched off for two hour blocks at a time, in the form of rolling black-outs throughout the entire country.





This is now starting to happen several times a day.





Business comes to a stand still as computer networks are disrupted...
Traffic grid locks as traffic lights in entire areas stop functioning...





How did this come about ?





Before the advent of democracy (rougly 13 years ago), South Africa had such a major electricity surplus that it mothballed 3 power stations, and still managed to export electricity to neighbouring countries.





So how did South Africa suddenly (and according to the politicians: "Unexpectedly") run out of electricity.





Lets look at the facts:





* In 1998 a goverment whitepaper was presented to parlament predicting that South Africa would run out electricity by 2007 if immediate action is not taken (build more power stations). Nothing was done.





* In 2002 the electricity regulator fined Eskom (the national power utility) for gross negligance for how it is managing the country's electricity supply





* Electricity demand is not difficult to predict. Ten years ago the ANC said it was targeting 5-6% economic growth rate, which was roughly what transpired. Electricity growth CORRELATES near perfectly with GDP growth. Thus any high school kid armed with a calculator can predict future electricity demand.





Therefore there exists no other explanation for this dire situation: Gross Incompetence.





The major changes that occured in the Government and at Eskom in the past 13 years of democracy:





* White politicians from the old order have been replaced by ANC people (almost all non-white)





* Massive sections of Eskom's white management has been replaced by black management in order to comply with governments affirmative action laws.





It does seem enterresting that South Africa always had excess electricity. Then it replaced all the white faces with black faces. Then 10 years later the country runs out of electricity.





What are the effects ?





Two weeks ago the single largest ever foreign direct investment into South Africa was cancelled because there is not enough electricity to support the project (R 22 Billion)





Several platinum projects were also placed on hold.





I predict that South Africa will loose in the region of R 200 billion in foreign investment over the next 5 years as a direct result of this.





Eskom has said that it will take at least 5 years for the problem to be rectified, whilst independant experts place it at 7-10 years.





In one fell swoop irreparable damage has been done to the SA economy.

References

Eskom tells mines to shut down

Electricity shortage a national emergency

WARNED 10 YEARS AGO OF ELECTRICITY CRISIS

Lack of electricity now blackens the economy

Electricity crisis worsens, mines close

http://www.sabcnews.com/features/eskom/

Where does the blame for load-shedding really lie?



-------------- One last happy thought...

Whats the difference between the TITANIC and SOUTH AFRICA ?

?

With the Titanic, the lights were still on, when it sank!

Take the red pil - You are not crazy

Some questions you need to immediately ask yourself

Why did the government try to cover up the crime statistics in South Africa in the early 2000s, by placing a moratorium on the release of all crime statistics ?

Why has the government until recently tried to deny that crime is a problem in South Africa, despite SA having the highest murder and rape rates per 100 000 ?

Why has the government for years denied that HIV causes AIDS, that anti retrovirals are a suitable treatment of AIDS, and then tried to block the distribution of these drugs (the Treatment Action Compaign had to force the government via the courts to take action) ?

Why is the government at the same time:
1. Promoting a policy that gives preference to race over competence, resulting in 1000 0000 highly skilled white people leaving the country
2. Complaining about the lack of skills ?

Why has the government not fired the minister of Health, Manto Tsabalala-Msimang whom after a recent liver transplant has been proved to drink in hospital (medical records obtained by the Sunday Times) and known to have been fired from a prior position of Medical Superintendant due to theft, years ago in Bophutatswana. She is also known for her flawed views on HIV, and scandals at several hospitals (thousands of babies dying, unsafe hospital conditions)... in fact the president commended her for her courageously defending herself against the press!

Why has the government allowed the dire situation in Zimbabwe to continue to spin out of control since the late nineties, since they repossessed white farms (murdering many), bulldozing people's houses down, and creating the worlds highest inflation (approaching 10 000%), the population starving and millions of desperate people illegally entering South Africa.

Why is Telkom, the fixed line monopoly so useless that several hate websites are dedicated to it, and organisations such as the telecoms action group (TAG) have taken out full page adds against it in major business publications ? Why is it in many cases near impossible to get proper internet services, despite Telkom having been identified as the main culprit, nearly 10 years ago already ?

Why are most municipalities and local government structures a complete mess, failing to deliver basic services and steeped in corruption ?

Why has SAA (the government owned airline) been run completely into the ground ?
See sites like www.neverflysaa.com

Why was the planning at the national power operator so flawed that major South African business areas are regularly affected by power cuts ?

Why does the South African government insist on free medical care for all citizens whilst many of the state hospitals are near collapse ?

Why are so many top politicians being investigated for crime and corruption at the moment ?

Why are the mob ties of our national police chief not properly investigated ?

Why do we have exchange controls preventing individuals from taking their money out of the country ?

The reason for these and many others are
1. Sheer incompetence
2. The supposed needs of "Whites" are considered less important than the needs of blacks (the voting majority), such as the redistribution of wealth and affirmative action.
3. We are slowly sinking into a tyrannical state, just like almost any other African country where suffering, despair, poverty, crime and AIDS is rampant.

The system is corrupt and incompetent to the core!

If you are still here (like me), I hope you have a backup escape plan.

There is no swift collapse coming, but neither is their a quick fix to all our woes in the pipeline.


Feeling depressed ?
There is nothing wrong with you.

If you are dumb-founded with the questions above, and questioning your own sanity, or simply confused by the mismatch between your own inner logical mind and the chaos so clearly visible around you in everyday life in South Africa, I can only offer you a small consolation.

The problem is not with you. The system is busted. They ARE out to get you.

a Little affirmative action can't hurt ? Just BEE nice!

As South Africans (especially as white South Africans) we have been told by politicians (mostly black) that we should accept unequal employment practices giving preference to black candidates over white candidates (strangely enough this is called equal opportunity employment!)

Is it our duty as white South Africans to right the wrongs of the past ?
To pay the price so to speak, and to just stand aside and make space for previously disadvantages brothers and sisters ?

And for how long ?

The common answer from these politicians has been: "For as long as it takes".

There is very little indication of How Long they think this will be.
It has already been more than 10 years.

Perhaps we can't expect repair an ill of a generation to be overcome in 10 years, but is the solution to still allocate opportunity based on race ? Should we give preference to black people today because 10 years ago we gave preference to whites?

Isn't this merely reverse discrimination ?

Isn't this simply neo-apartheid whereby white people are now reduced to being second class citizens just as black people were during apartheid ?

I have some good questions, but not enough answers, but I'm sure the bloggers will help me out...

CNN: South Africa tries Affirmative
http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/africa/9810/08/safrica.affirmative.action/index.html

Here is what others are writing on the topic:

http://www.blogsouthafrica.net/2007/02/02/affirmative-action-in-the-spotlight/

AA not working for anyone: http://www.fin24.co.za/articles/default/display_article.aspx?ArticleId=1518-1522_2149411

Here's to white economic empowerment:
http://finblogs.24.com/ViewBlog.aspx?blogid=14781510-ecc0-48e1-a1a3-0ad6f3e56590
http://finblogs.24.com/ViewComments.aspx?blogid=14781510-ecc0-48e1-a1a3-0ad6f3e56590&mid=db80de32-f788-4a01-b2cf-41992873becd

www.thenakedemperor.co.za

“Affirmative action is couched in fine words – diversity, talent, merit, opportunity, tolerance, development”.

“But when carried out, it is always punitive. In fact, affirmative action must be punitive. It requires the government to target one group for help because of its race or ethnicity. This means it must target all other groups for punishment. This is the logical flipside of affirmative action, but it is widely ignored. And so affirmative action leads to unintended, (but easy predictable consequences. It increases group conflict, as resentment by the punished groups grows and the demands of the beneficiaries increase. It emphasizes group differences, rather than eliminating them. It discourages effort by the beneficiaries, who come to expect special privileges. And it destroys equality before the law”.

- Don Caldwell in his book No more Martyrs Now