Government's power plan an anxious leap in the right direction - Solidarity

25 July 2022

Solidarity welcomed the government's plan to tackle the power crisis in South Africa. According to Solidarity, the plan, which echoes many of Solidarity’s earlier suggestions, represents an anxious leap in the right direction.

According to Dr Dirk Hermann, chief executive of Solidarity, the government's move towards a more decentralised system for power generation is the only workable and sustainable solution to South Africa's power crisis.

"As also outlined in Solidarity's earlier plan, the encouragement and facilitation of small-scale power generation on a large scale is of crucial importance to stabilize our power grid," says Hermann "Through deregulation and the removal of regulatory barriers, we free the private sector and communities up to present creative and resilient solutions to the crisis.”

Solidarity further stated that its focus now shifts to the implementation of the plan announced by the government.

“Any plan, no matter how good, still needs to be properly implemented. Many of these proposals go directly against the government's state-centric DNA and therefore there will be a great temptation to fall back on that outdated model. We are now going watch over the steps taken by government in order to ensure that they fulfil these promises," concludes Hermann.

Issued by Connie Mulder, Head: Solidarity Research Institute (SNI), 26 July 2022