The Minority in Parliament has urgently warned of a potential severe electricity crisis in the country owing to the government’s outstanding $20 million debt owed to the West African Pipeline Company (WAPCo).
This information comes in the wake of persistent power disruptions experienced in various regions.
Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo), in a statement released on Thursday, October 26, clarified that a shortage of gas supply had resulted in a 550MW power deficit during peak periods, which would lead to outages in certain areas.
However, during an interview with JoyNews, Member of Parliament for Bongo, Edward Bawa, attributed the ongoing and frequent power outages to the government’s unpaid debt to WAPCo amounting to $20 million.
As a solution, he suggested that the government should engage in discussions with WAPCo to resolve the issue.
“Government must find a way or make an arrangement with as to how that can be paid. If WAPCO begins to have some comfort that government has kept in touch to do the payment, then, I believe that it will work.
“Government must be working to see how they can give WAPCo some level of comfort to continue transmitting gas from Obuasi to Tema or else we are going to be in trouble. If the gas does not come, what it simply means is that the plants cannot run because they use fuel. And if they cannot run, you’d have that ‘dumsor’,’” he said.
“Now the question you would ask is whose liability is it? It is true that if you look at ECG, they do not have a healthy access or guarantee to be able to always go into arrangements with power or gas utilities so GNPC stood in as a guarantee for ECG.
“So ECG has to pay WAPCo but unfortunately because for almost 13 months now the cash waterfall mechanism where all the monies that ECG collects after selling power is put for it to be distributed among the utility mechanism is no longer working, ECG is unable to pay the liability,” he explained.
The World Bank is providing South Africa with a $1 billion loan to aid in addressing the country’s energy crisis, which has worsened due to its most severe power cuts.
The country has been grappling with power outages since 2007, and these disruptions have intensified in recent years, leading to daily blackouts lasting as long as 16 hours.
These frequent power cuts have had a detrimental impact on South Africa’s economy, causing a slowdown in its GDP growth, as noted by the World Bank.
“The loan endorses a significant and strategic response to South Africa’s ongoing energy crisis and the country’s goal of transitioning to a just and low carbon economy,” the World Bank said in a statement on Wednesday, after its board approved the loan.
Burning coal produces more than 80% of the electricity used in South Africa. The nation is therefore listed as the 14th largest carbon dioxide emitter in the world.
According to the World Bank, the loan will enable South Africa to restructure its state-owned electricity company, Eskom, which is in debt totaling more than $26 billion.
The serenity of a typically peaceful suburban road in the vicinity of South Africa’s capital, Pretoria, is being disrupted by the persistent sound of drilling.
However, these drilling activities are not related to prospectors in search of the nation’s mineral riches. Instead, they represent a pursuit of a potentially more valuable resource: water.
In affluent neighborhoods within South Africa’s economic hub, where water supply has become scarce, private boreholes are increasingly appearing. The example of Garsfontein illustrates the trend as workers excavate a borehole to secure access to water.
“I am tired of not knowing when we will have water and when we won’t,” the frustrated homeowner says.
“Having a borehole means we won’t have to depend on the government so much, it’s what’s best for my family.”
Much of the domestic water supply here depends on electricity to pump it from the source to the vast high plain on which the cities of Johannesburg and Pretoria sit.
South Africa’s recent electricity woes – with regular lengthy scheduled blackouts – have had a knock-on effect on the supply of water.
“All of our stations, they need electricity, they need power. You have to pump water everywhere where it is needed,” says Sipho Mosai, the head of state-owned Rand Water, one of the country’s main water providers.
“Electricity is really at the heartbeat of what we do and if we don’t have it externally, at least for now, it becomes a problem.”
“Some days I don’t have both water and electricity, and this can be for days at a time. It makes daily life insufferable,” says Zizi Dlanga, a 35-year-old private wealth manager.
She lives in a two-bedroom apartment in an affluent suburb in the north of Johannesburg with her sister who is a trainee doctor. She now stocks up on water when it is available and goes to a gym to take a shower.
“My water bill stays the same even with all the cuts. I feel frustrated, I don’t have access to water alternatives [like a borehole] that would make this bearable for me,” she adds.
Bottled water is being stored in Hammanskraal after there was a cholera outbreak in the water supply
There are, of course, millions of South Africans who have lived without having water piped into their homes for years. But the intermittent domestic supply is just one aspect of a multi-pronged problem facing the water industry.
“We are in a state of systemic failure, the water sector is collapsing,” expert Prof Anthony Turton tells the BBC.
The lack of electricity has exacerbated issues created by poorly maintained infrastructure, which has led to vast leaks as well as sewage problems, and a supply of water that cannot meet demand.
Seventy million litres of treated, clean, drinkable water are lost every single day because of leaks that are endemic in the crumbling water system.
Most of the water wastage identified has been linked to badly run municipalities that are not investing in maintenance, partly because of corruption and theft.
This has also meant that sewage plants are not cleaning the water in the way that they should.
And this has had public health consequences.
Lawrence Malope has been selling bottled water in Hammanskraal after people became nervous about the piped water
In just a few weeks in Hammanskraal, a township outside Pretoria, 29 people were killed by cholera that had been found in the water supply there. The outbreak has been linked to substandard water purification practices.
Lawrence Malope sells bottled water at the roadside in the township. It is a new business born out of desperate times.
“Most people buy from me because they want safe water to drink, because the water that comes out of the taps is dirty,” he says.
At home, he collects rainwater and then boils it before use.
“Many people are getting sick here because of the water coming out of our taps and some just don’t know how to clean it. We have young children in this community, I’m really worried about our safety,” he says.
But not having clean drinking water is not unique to Hammanskraal – a recent report by the Department of Water Affairs and Sanitation found that of the 155 treatment systems sampled, 41% came back showing bad microbial water quality compliance.
The problem can be found across the country. In the Eastern Cape’s quaint arts town of Makhanda, formerly known as Grahamstown, residents have for years been forced to contend with unsafe drinking water, with recurring bouts of E.coli contamination.
In the Free State province, government investigations found that the majority of wastewater treatment plants are deemed to be “in critical condition”, putting residents at risk of contaminated water.
For Prof Turton, the combination of problems with water and electricity supplies is creating a perfect storm.
“People living all across the country are becoming increasingly concerned and increasingly angry. Part of it is because people are sitting in darkness sometimes.
“With the interrupted water supply…we now have a situation where people are literally dying from disease.”
On the part of the water suppliers, Mr Mosai from Rand Water agrees that more needs to be done. He says that his company is investing in solar power rather than relying on the national grid.
There has been a borehole boom in some of South Africa’s wealthy suburbs
When it comes to solutions, drilling private boreholes is only an option for the very wealthy, as they come with a price tag of $7,000 (£5,000).
It also serves to highlight the huge inequalities in South Africa.
“What it’s doing is widening the gap between those that have and those that don’t have. It creates social injustice,” argues Dr Ferrial Adam from advocacy group WaterCAN.
There are also questions about the environmental impact of boreholes and whether the groundwater is safe to drink. In some parts of the country, harmful metals and dangerous bacteria can be found in the water.
But experts say there are some things that can be done to benefit everyone and help arrest the deterioration of the water supply.
“There are some very quick fixes,” according to Dr Adam.
“One is fix the leaks, spend actual money on infrastructure and maintenance, and test water regularly, so you monitor what people are being made to drink.”
She adds that the national government needs to be better at keeping municipalities in line.
The government acknowledges the problem and says it has taken some municipalities to court over allegations of negligence.
But Dr Adam feels that is not enough.
“A lot of these are failing. That failure places lives at risk.”
The struggling South African government has announced that it will assume nearly two-thirds of the $23 billion (£19 billion) total debt of the state power company.
This occurs at a time when malfunctions at Eskom’s power plants have caused unheard-of power outages that are harming the nation’s economy.
The national treasury’s decision should release funds for distribution, transmission, and maintenance.
This month,President Cyril Ramaphosa declared a state of disaster due to the energy crisis, enabling the government to take immediate action.
Eskom has been plagued by corruption and mismanagement. It has received more than $14 billion worth of bailouts since 2008.
The latest move by the government comes as the outgoing Eskom chief executive, who was due to exit the company next month, leaves with immediate effect.
The firm’s board resolved on Wednesday that Andre de Ruyter would not be required to serve the balance of his notice period.
In an interview with a local TV station on Monday, Mr De Ruyter questioned the government’s ability to deal with the corruption at the utility firm.
In an effort to address an energy crisis, the president ofSouth Africa has declared a state of disaster.
The government now has more authority to address the crippling electricity shortages that have gotten worse recently thanks to Cyril Ramaphosa’s announcement on Thursday.
He insisted that South Africa would have an energy network that was more effective.
The opposition repeatedly interrupted the president’s annual speech to the legislature.
There was chaos in the chamber before his speech. At one point members of the Economic Freedom Fighters stormed the podium, before being forced to leave.
Mr Ramaphosa also said access to the witness protection programme for whistle-blowers that exposed government corruption was under way.
But that brings little relief to those whose relatives were murdered for exposing maladministration.
To address the rising cost of living, Mr Ramaphosa extended the relief funding which is earned by more than eight million unemployedSouth Africans.
A poultry organization has warned that South Africa (Sapa) may experience significant chicken shortages as a result of the power outage that is disrupting the slaughter of the hens.
The Association revealed that it has now reduced the number of chickens slaughtered with abattoirs unable to keep up because of the power cuts.
Local media quote Sapa as saying that it also had to cull 10 million chicks in the past weeks.
Some franchises such as KFC are reportedly already feeling the impact, with the situation likely to get worse.
It comes amid a warning that the issue could become a long-term problem, affecting retail and wholesale markets.
Threats to sue the government for the damaging its source of power in the nation have been made by opposition organizations, a trade union, and business owners in South Africa.
They have given the government up to Friday to stabilise electricity supply or face legal action for contravening its duty to provide electricity.
They have written a demand letter to the Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan and the chief executive of the state utility firm Eskom, Andre de Ruyter, saying the state was in breach of its obligation to provide electricity.
The blackouts have persisted for more than a decade, amid poor management and corruption at state firm Eskom
Recently the country has been having up to 10 hours of power cuts daily.
The problem has prompted the president to cancel a trip to the World Economic Forum in Davos to hold meetings at home with business and labour leaders.
