The Minister in the Department of Energy, Mr David Mahlobo, has told the Portfolio Committee on Energy that South Africa’s energy policy has not changed and will never change. “The policy is energy mix on the basis of endowment. We use the energy mix policy for all natural resources. Energy is about what you have as an endowment, and the policy works on that basis,” Minister Mahlobo said.
“We are blessed with uranium that could be extracted and be put into use to produce nuclear power. We have gas, but not in abundance. Nuclear energy is got to be at a cost that we could afford. If energy is expensive it will be an impediment to growth and stability,” he said.
Minister Mahlobo emphasised that energy remained an important catalyst and enabler for economic development and that South Africa needed to ensure diversity in energy resources that are available. He led a strong departmental delegation that came to brief the Committee on, among other things, the nuclear new build programme, the finalisation of the IEP and IRP, energy cost, restructuring state-owned entities, among others.
The Chairperson of the Committee, Mr Fikile Majola, said the Committee wanted to deal with some of the issues it thought were important. “These issues had been identified and discussed before and are quite big issues in the energy sector. We hope that the meeting will sufficiently cover each one of the issues raised. The Committee wants to be sure on processes that are said to be under way so that there is certainty,” said Mr Majola.
He said the tendency had been inconsistency with implementation and lack of clarity on policy. “There has to be clarity with the general attitude of government with regard to energy policy so that the public is clear with regard to the intentions of government. On all the big issues in the sector, we want some level of certainty with regard to where we are,” he said.
Minister Mahlobo said the country needed a reliable supply of energy all the time so that it does not experience the challenges of load shedding in 2008 and 2009. “Sustainability is important. We do not need interruptions. Energy has an impact socially, politically, but also on the environment. The implementation of the policy has to give consideration to clean energy sources going into 2025 when it is expected that the country cuts down its gas emissions, in line with the climate change commitments that have been made,” he said.
“The country must be ready that the capacity that will come with this new build environment will counter job losses as a result of less reliance on fossils into the future.”
He said everything that government is going to do, whether with regard to renewable or non-renewable energy resources, the question of pace, time, demand, scale and affordability will be crucial. “It is important to conclude the programme so that there is certainty,” he said – and called on the opponents of nuclear energy not to be champions of one energy source over the other ones.
By Sibongile Maputi
21 November 2017
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