Eskom: Poverty not Pollution is the Biggest Killer

Destroying South Africa`s industrial capacity is the name of the game that is being thrown at Eskom. Since the character assassination of former president Jacob Zuma both the ANC and Eskom are under attack which is because of South Africa`s role in the BRICS and its relations with China and the Belt and Road Initiative. Debilitating Eskom will destroy the country`s ability to further industrialize and therefore increase poverty. If South Africa falters it will have dire consequence for the entire southern African region and beyond.

In a recently published article for Executive Intelligence Review, authors David Cherry and Ramasimong Tsokolibane wrote:

“South Africa is being held back by the enemies of its own development and that of the continent—the banks and mining companies whose allegiance is to the British neocolonial empire. The empire had been guiding South Africa into deindustrialization for years—until President Zuma came close to breaking out, with Russian and Chinese help.”

They warned :

“If Eskom is not supported and strengthened, and its nuclear power capacity is not increased, South Africa will retard Africa’s development in all respects, railways included.”

South Africa has agreed to the Carbon Tax Act and it is now in effect as of June this year. This will mean that in 2023 Eskom will be liable for R11.5 billion, US$813 million annually.

Eskom is systematically being `down-graded` as plans are to privatize the most profitable sectors. It is being used to subsidize renewables which are far more costly than coal and especially nuclear.

Crazy economists have been saying that there is no need anymore for Eskom to even secure baseload electricity. Their reasoning being that we live in `uncertain times.` Such thinking is really genocidal.

Eskom is accused of:

producing more than 90% of South Africa’s electricity and accounts for about 42% of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions

What exactly is the logic in that kind of thinking? Must Eskom be penalized for supplying electricity to the nation`s households and national industry? In the name of what? South Africans will die of poverty in far far greater numbers than they are today. Are we to sacrifice our lives and our children`s future for the sake of the planet ? Carbon dioxide is not a pollutant, it is a food for plants. And if the environmentalists cared to look, they would see that the Sahel is greening as are other arid areas around the world. They are greening due to the very slight increase in carbon dioxide which may or may not be a result of human activity.

Poverty and lack of electricity are the biggest killers in South Africa.