ActionSA calls for input on achieving energy security in South Africa

22 May 2023

As part of our ongoing policy engagement process, ActionSA will this week engage with South Africans on what needs to be done to end the country’s energy crisis. As Stage 6 load-shedding has become the norm in 2023, with winter yet to come, we are inviting South Africans to share their thoughts on how to secure South Africa’s energy supply in the short- and long-term.

The continuing economic and social devastation caused by load-shedding is a direct result of the policy incoherence of the past three decades. In May 2023, we have already experienced more hours of load-shedding than we did in the whole of 2022.

Last week, we learned that unemployment continues to increase, while the release of the PIRLS-study showed that 82% of grade 4 learners are practically illiterate – painting a grim picture of South Africa’s future. Without stable electricity supply, these are problems that we cannot hope to overcome.

Additionally, the ANC’s continued insistence on relying on fossil fuels as the basis of our energy mix threatens South Africa’s contribution to the global goals of reducing carbon emissions, and is putting foreign investment into South Africa’s energy industry at risk.

It is clear that our current government is in the dark about how to stabilise South Africa’s energy supply. To avoid the mistake of developing a policy response in an academic vacuum, we are calling on the people affected directly by load-shedding on a daily basis to contribute to ActionSA’s policy response to energy security.

As ActionSA works to refine our policy offering ahead of our inaugural Policy Conference in September, we are thus calling on all South Africans, whether they are electricians, business-people, engineers, students or teachers, to participate in this important conversation. We must show our government that by working together, we can come up with solutions to the problems that is robbing this country of its potential.

Submissions can be made on our online platform at actionsa.org.za/policy. Consultation and engagement are part of ActionSA’ DNA, so we want to give all South Africans the opportunity to get involved in shaping the plans needed to fix South Africa.

Together with the inputs of those who deal with our most pressing challenges on a daily basis – including load shedding, crime and joblessness – we believe that ActionSA will provide that alternative.

Together, we can fix South Africa.

Issued by Herman Mashaba, ActionSA President, 22 May 2023