News / Africa
Zuma blames apartheid for current blackouts
13 Dec 2014 at 11:32hrs | Views
SOUTH Africa's energy problems were a product of apartheid and government was not to blame for the current blackouts, President Jacob Zuma said on Friday.
Africa's economic power house has been plunged into an energy crisis which is said to be the worst in 40 years.
Outages have been commonplace despite peak power demand falling below 2007 levels and actual electricity use far below forecasts
Power utility Eskom has conceded in Parliament that it cannot guarantee electricity supply security for at least another five years.
"The problem [is] the energy was structured racially to serve a particular race, not the majority," Zuma told delegates at the Young Communist League's congress in Cape Town.
He said the ANC had inherited the power utility from the previous regime which had only provided electricity to the white minority.
Twenty years into democracy, 11 million households had access to electricity, double the number in 1994, Zuma said in a speech prepared for delivery.
Government was taking action to address the energy situation.
The development of the Medupi and Kusile power stations was being accelerated in order to bring them on to the grid.
"Projects in the region with the potential to produce power in the short term are being assessed and we continue to evaluate options with the intention to maximise all sources of energy including coal, gas, nuclear, solar and renewable energy options, Zuma said.
Africa's economic power house has been plunged into an energy crisis which is said to be the worst in 40 years.
Outages have been commonplace despite peak power demand falling below 2007 levels and actual electricity use far below forecasts
Power utility Eskom has conceded in Parliament that it cannot guarantee electricity supply security for at least another five years.
"The problem [is] the energy was structured racially to serve a particular race, not the majority," Zuma told delegates at the Young Communist League's congress in Cape Town.
He said the ANC had inherited the power utility from the previous regime which had only provided electricity to the white minority.
Twenty years into democracy, 11 million households had access to electricity, double the number in 1994, Zuma said in a speech prepared for delivery.
Government was taking action to address the energy situation.
The development of the Medupi and Kusile power stations was being accelerated in order to bring them on to the grid.
"Projects in the region with the potential to produce power in the short term are being assessed and we continue to evaluate options with the intention to maximise all sources of energy including coal, gas, nuclear, solar and renewable energy options, Zuma said.
Source - Sapa
