MINISTER OF MISINFORMATION
Eskom responds to Gwede Mantashe’s deceptive ‘masterclass’ in energy transition
In what was billed as a ‘masterclass’ at Wits Business School last week, Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy Gwede Mantashe spouted half-truths and outright lies in an effort to discredit South Africa’s energy transition.
Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy Gwede Mantashe, in a “masterclass on the future of energy transition leadership”, hosted by the Wits Business School’s African Energy Leadership Centre on 17 August, spouted blatant and easily disproved half-truths and misinformation about South Africa’s nascent transition from coal to renewable energy.
“Energy transition … it’s a foreign concept for us. It’s foreign,” said Mantashe at the event.
“Now they all came for me and I said it’s foreign because ‘just’ must talk to justice being done and seen to be done. Okay? And if we don’t see that justice being done, that transition can’t be just. We sit with my team here, we’ve analysed the Komati Power Station as an example of transition.
“They decommissioned a performing power station because of commitments in the Paris Agreement – we decommissioned it,” said Mantashe.
Read more in Daily Maverick: R9bn Komati repurposing project ‘will need to be replicated hundreds of times’, says World Bank executive
Asked about Mantashe’s statement, Eskom told Daily Maverick that “Komati Power Station had not been decommissioned. All units have been shut down and the site is to be used for Repurposing and Repowering (R&R) with Solar, Wind, Battery and other projects.
“This was in line with Eskom’s 2035 Strategy which does support decarbonisation, however, 7 of the 9 units had already been shut down for techno-enviro-economic reasons.”
The utility’s media team continued to explain that “Komati was the most expensive station in the coal fleet and units were shut down when continued operation required significant investment which Eskom did not have due to the severely constrained financial situation after many years of below prudent and efficient cost-reflective tariffs”.
Continuing his so-called masterclass, Mantashe said: “It’s performing. Now I’m talking to load shedding in a way.”
In response to this statement, the Eskom media desk said: “Since May 2020, only one unit, unit 9, was operational with a nominal capacity of 114MW. From 1 March 2022 to 31 October 2022, unit 9 was performing at an EAF [energy availability factor] of 65.95%. This means that, on average, Komati could supply about 75MW to the grid.
“One stage of load shedding is 1,000MW. During this period, Komati was the 4th best-performing station in the coal fleet. Note that the other stations typically have 6 units with total capacities of 2000MW to 4000MW.”
Continuing on his verbal journey of half-truths and falsehoods, Mantashe went on to say: “We decommission [Komati Power Station] it. We replace it with a solar farm. We reduce [the] megawatts supplied when we changed it. We cut the number of people employed hugely and therefore the ‘just’ part of a just energy transition fails outright. But it’s a transition … we move from coal to solar which is renewable. It employs fewer people, it gives us fewer megawatts, but it is cleaner.”
Read more in Daily Maverick: Despite Mantashe’s claims, the evidence is clear – clean coal is a dirty lie and economically unviable
In response, Eskom’s media team had the following to say:
“Komati power station has not been decommissioned but it is a station in transition. The power plant will be converted into a renewable generation site powered with 150MW of solar, 70MW of wind and 150MW of storage batteries, thereby continuing to put the site and its associated transmission infrastructure into good use and providing economic opportunities to the community.
“A containerised micro-grid assembly factory has already been established on-site. The development of the Komati Training Facility to facilitate the reskilling, retraining and upskilling of Eskom employees and members of the community, as appropriate, is underway.
“Eskom has already signed a partnership agreement with the South African Renewable Energy Technology Centre of the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, and the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet to develop the training facility.”
Read more in Daily Maverick: Shut down Komati Power Station first of its kind to be repurposed into renewable energy training facility
The team added: “No Eskom employees have lost their jobs as a result of the closure. 103 Eskom employees were reskilled, upskilled and transferred to other stations, and 153 remain on site.
“The station is in transition and the jobs already created are limited to those created in the construction of the agrivoltaics plant (19).
“By 2030, the project will have a significant positive impact on the local communities. There will be 660 full-time direct employee jobs created through repurposing and repowering, with 8,700 additional temporary jobs.
“We will have trained in excess of 200 community members to make them employable in renewables and other parts of the value chain. In the months leading to the final shutdown, there were 205 employees at Komati and there are currently 153 employees at the site,” Eskom said. DM
The Penguin Oswald Cobbblepot strikes again with a few lies
Will Gweezy accuse the Eskom media desk of treason as well, for correcting his obvious incompetence/bullshit?
Beat me to it mate!
Treason! Conspiracy! Racism!
Here’s a thought Gwede. Let us create jobs picking up rocks and moving them from point A to point B. They are just as effective as those at Eskom or anywhere else because it’s a job. See Gwede? I just made your life easy. And you can show that annoying prick – what was his name – de Ruyter! that in fact he was quite wrong with his comment around the dark ages and rocks, and that you Gwede were right all along! Because you know, it’s all Treason! Conspiracy! Racism!
You’re welcome. You still have 5 months to fill your promise to end load shedding. Go Gwede!! We know you can do it. Go Gwede!! Go Gwede!!
Mumbles this, bumbles that.
Sad really. Dementia is a terrible illness, as can be witnessed by watching our esteemed Minister of Energy, Mr. Mumbleatshe talking about South Africas energy woes.
I wish you could blame it only on dementia….
No – this guy is looking at his bank accounts.
Gwede Mantashe
Truth
Well, they can’t sit in the same sentence, so I had to do the right thing…
😁 love it
As a graduate of both the university and the business school, I’m embarrassed that they gave him the chance to spread his vile lies. Of the thousands of decent, honest and, (let’s be blunt here,) intelligent South Africans, they choose this fool? No wonder this business school has been unable to keep a decent dean for more than a couple of years, and the international reputation of the university is being flushed down the toilet. Shame on you, Wits and WBS.
We have been assured that transformation of the university both in terms of quality of lecturers and standard of academics has not been dimished. Many students are quite frankly not of sufficient calibre to pass their courses and resort to intimidation of their lecturers. The refrain pass one pass all still operates. As former graduate I am also embarrassed and disappointed at the rampant mediocrity evidenced
‘Masterclass’?
Rather: ‘Moronclass’? or maybe ‘Masterarse’?
disasterclass?
👍🏻🤣
Nothing but an old useless and clueless communist dinosaur that is/was never fit for purpose and is hanging in for coal as that is one of the main anc vested corrupt networks. Load shedding could have been solved or drastically reduced had this Cyril the spineless and his pathetic anc cleared the decks and appointed competent and probably apolitical ministers in key areas. Instead we have cadre deployment, a guaranteed recipe for failure, incompetence and corruption. This is another huge reason why SA is in miserable state that it is.
Load shedding would not merely have been solved or reduced. It would have been easily avoided for the past several years if this ignoramus had not been appointed.
It does kinda, sorta make one wonder just what hold Mantashe has on our not-so-esteemed president. He should at best, have been cut loose years ago. Mantashe is probably one of the greatest threats to our electricity supply, and certainly to the very idea of transition. Why, oh why is he still there, able to continously delay any progress to clean energy?
We can vote this corrupt cadre OUT of government in less than 10 months from now!
Come on SA!
Register and VOTE the ANC kakistrocracy into oblivion!
He knows where the skeletons are buried, unfortunately. Where do you think the brazen arrogance comes from.
Your comment is unfortunately so true. Mantashe is everything that is wrong with SA.
I always wonder if this clown actually believes his own BS? Sadly, many people do believe it and those are the people who will continue to vote ANC.
Kudos to Eskom for calling him out!
Anyone who has refused to believe that Mantashe is our spineless president’s boss should, by now, be convinced. Big problem is that firing one’s boss is not easy so Ramaphosa keeps on toeing this man’s line. Mantashe’s unbelievable assumption that the unmitigated bullshit he keeps spouting would be believed simply underlines his power in the NEC. Vote them out or goodbye SA.
Old King Coal on a roll to try to ensure BS baffles brains
Encouraging to see Eskom take a different position to Mantashe.
Did Daily Maverick reach out to Gwede for comment? Would love to hear what his reaction was when people called him out.
It seems upper-echelon ANC cadres have become so accustomed to lying at every turn that they can’t even smell their own BS anymore.
While Mantashe is a bumbling dilettante at this game, Ramaposeur is one of the more insidiously adept at it.
Mantashe is not just incompetent but also cadre minded. He also has his mind set on mining minerals, esp manganese, all over the Western Cape, with bogus companies getting permission to do so. New laws were passed that these applications do not need Public Participation Meetings or Environmental Impact Studies, therefore leaving the populace no say in the matter. Remember the year it was proclaimed that mineral and water rights on farms and private property belonged to the State? 1 May 2004.
It is a serious threat to farmers’ values of their property, mass destruction of natural fynbos and renosterveld, causing serious damage to natural habitats and poisoning air and water supply. Also defending the argument with the ’employment’ factor, never mind where employees are accommodated or whether they are locally sourced.
It is as big a problem as loadshedding. He is not worth his post or salary, neither his power over our natural rescources – he does not care but for his own popularity.
“Decomissioned” vs “Shut Down” Seems to me that using this to call Mantashe deceptive is bit like the Pot trying to call the Kettle black. Facts is that the power station’s coal generating units have been shut down. Whether the most costly or not, I am willing to wager that they were still cheaper than the power ships. No real progress has been made by Eskom on the “green” initiative which currently consists of one or two shipping containers with installed solar. Perhaps Daily Maverick should focus on the lack of progress on the “green initiative” rather than trying to score points by twisting words to suit. Mantashe’s gripe that there has been no “Just” transition is factually supported by the numbers of people currently employed vs the number prior to the “Non- Decomissioned Shut Down”
This the numbers from Daily Mavericks 25 September 2022 Article.
There are 600 employees at Komati Power Station — 200 permanent staff, 200 contractors and 200 ERI Eskom road tech industry contractors.
When Gwede opens his mouth,rubbish is spewed
How embarrassing for Wits Business School. Talk about scuppering your reputation.
one of the comrade communist cadre rants basically said this high EAF 1GW station is being replaced with 850MW less renewables. If it were true it would be a dumb idea. Since it is not true (only one unit is in operation), he should say that Komati should not be a 150MW plus grid stabilizing renewable plant, it should be a 1GW grid stabilizing renewable plant to better utilize the GW of transmission capacity it has.
Action SA get ready it seems like we need to substitute the ruling party with new leadership. VOTE FOR CHANGE
These fellows keep embarrassing us, well, that happens when you overthrow party leadership and replace it with uneducated people as they did in 2007, the effects of such decisions are making us and the country poor now.
There’s nothing to be gained by getting stuck on Mantashe. Go to the bigger point: there are climate crisis deniers everywhere.
And DO something yourself!
Get involved in a grouping that protests. Or find the environmental activism in your industry or profession (for example, there are lawyer groups figuring out how to challenge in the policy arena, medical groups challenging the health implications, engineers designing differently, financial workers finding big money to assist a just transition).
There are so many ways to get involved. Don’t get stuck on Gwede. Get involved.
No, he has to be called out. And the more people who do it, the better. Don’t forget, you are dealing with someone who will take silence as a thumbs up.
It seems the South Africa government suffers from a large dose of Multiple Personality Disorder with a side order of Psycopathy, with Greedy Mantashe being the psychopathic side order. It truly is ludicrous that ministers such as Greedy will, without any embarrassment, completely and irrationally contradict the SOEs.
Has anyone ever asked Uncle Gweezy what the possibility of further development for coal power plant employees would do per employee? Would their new skills mean higher earning capacity? would their new skills and broadened knowledge and understanding of more means of energy production be a catalyst for local innovation and development of new energy solutions. Would this ensure that the DMRI can actually say something meanful when KPIs and measurement gets done by the other Minister Ramakgopa’s department within the Presidency regarding SDG goals? We’ve seen him and the President getting excited by green hydrogen before.
The quicker he retires the better. The mans a menace.
Reality check; Mantashe is truly gifted when it comes to his exceptional ability to torture truth and logic. The burning question; how does any sane country retain a Minister in a portfolio which has failed catastrophically on any measurable metric? Our mining industry has shrunk and shrivelled to a shadow of its former size and SA has missed the massive opportunities in recent commodity booms. What is the definition of treason?
The eskom scenario is taking on a paralysis nightmare quality in the face of these stonewalling reiterations of ideological incompetence. Pinch me quick!