On Thursday 10 August 2023 – the Gauteng Provincial Government hosted the Gauteng Energy
Indaba with the theme “Growing Gauteng Together 2030” at Gallagher Convention Centre in
Midrand.
Despite a late start, the session was well organised and well attended. Mpho Mookapele – CEO of
the Energy Water SETA – proved an engaging programme director, and urged all participants to
“move the province into action”. She affirmed that “transition is a reality” – and we need to be
solution focussed in order to avoid the injustice that is typically coupled with great economic
change.
James Mackay – CEO of the Energy Council of South Africa – highlighted that while loadshedding
“resulted in a breakdown of trust”, it has “forced” investment into renewable energy and the design
and execution of innovative banking solutions in respect of the renewable energy industry. He also
highlighted the strides being taken by Eskom to stabilize and turn the organisation around – pointing
to the Transmission Development Plan that was recently published.
The Premier – Panyaza Lesufi – made the ambitious promise to eradicate loadshedding for the
Gauteng Province by March 2024. But, not after naming and shaming several Municipalities in the
province on their questionable financial situations; their failure to service their debt to Eskom; and
their resultant failure to deliver services to their constituents.
Conversations of the day centred on 5 overarching themes, discussed in individual breakaway
sessions – 1. Electricity Infrastructure Improvement; 2. Protection of Essential Infrastructure and
Removal of Illegal Connections; 3. Debt Management and Billing; 4. Alternative Energy Technologies
and 5. Women in Energy. With the prevailing sense that the 5 th theme was included as a nod to
South Africa’s Women’s Day, and the general acknowledgement of Women’s Month.
Attendees were encouraged to attend the breakaway session that most resonated with them. These
sessions were solutions focused – with facilitators crowd-sourcing ideas and opinions from the
attendees.
As with all such initiatives, there was much politicking and political posturing – but the overarching
view was that the event was a success, providing much food for thought for the Provincial
Government as they head into the 2024 election year.
There is reason to be optimistic – given the challenges they were willing to engage and discuss in a
very public forum. The first step to solving a problem, is admitting that you have one.