Mutshamaxitulu, ndza khensa. Tatana Presidente ndza swi twa leswaku lowu a hi nkarhi wa ku lava ku kuma mikutlunya, kambe ndzi lava ku kambisisa swin'wana ...
English:
...especially with the document that comes from the Treasury that Minister Mboweni had been spearheading. One of the suggestions in that document is that Eskom should sell some of its coal-powered power stations. I want to check with you whether you agree with this. As the President do you agree that some of Eskom's coal- powered power stations should be sold off on auctions, and what are you going to do about this?
Also, if it's going to be actioned can you please give us a way in which your leadership and your Presidency is going to make sure that this becomes a success so that at the end of the day we solve our energy crisis.
Xitsonga:
Ndza khensa, Mutshamaxitulu.
PRESIDENTE WA RIPHABILIKI: Mutshamaxitulu, na mina ndza khensa swinene. Xivutiso lexi xi ta endla leswaku hi kota ku vulavula na ku twanana kahle leswaku Eskom hi yi yisa kwihi.
English:
There is a paper that is currently in discussion - the one that is being discussed. I don't know whether you are one of those who did make any submissions because there are 754 submissions that were made to the paper that was released by the Treasury. Working through all those submissions and, indeed, one of the proposals that were put up there is that we should consider selling off some of the power stations. We have to decommission a number of power stations. You might know that some of our power stations are more than 37- years-old. Once a power station reaches that life and begins to move towards 40 years and more than that, it has reached the end of its life and has to be closed. In closing it we have a another challenge to deal with the ramifications of the closure of those power stations. We now have to deal with an issue called a just transition because they have to be closed and you cannot stop that. You then have to look at where those power stations are located: the workers who work in those power stations; the communities around those power stations have settled town and they have built; do you want those towns to become ghost towns or not; and what are we going to do with giving the people around those power stations and workers a just transition and migration forward. Clearly, this gives rise to a number of proposals.
In Selling of power stations we have to ask ourselves which power stations will be sold. Are you going to sell the ones that are closing or are you going to sell the new ones. In my book you are not going to sell the new power stations because they are the ones that are the crown jewels of Eskom. Who will buy the old and aging power stations? You may never find a buyer because they are aging and going to close. Unless somebody comes forward and say I will buy this power station and I would want to operate it for the next 20, 30 or 40 years; I will breathe life into it and give the people around that power station a new lease of life; I am an entrepreneur and I know how to sweat this asset and involve communities; and I will involve workers as part of this scheme. Now you are looking at a different proposition. But inherently we are saying we are not in the business of selling power stations, no. Which power station will we sell?
As we have been looking at the restructuring of Eskom, we have been saying that, first, we are not privatising Eskom. Eskom will be calved into three entities, and one generation will be generation. We have also been saying that in generation we have realised that already there are quite a number of other generators of electricity - a number of other entities are already generating electricity.
Some are doing it through renewable energy, wind power, sun power
and some are doing it through biomass. So there are quite a number of other generators. But in the end Eskom will remain the main generator of electricity and that must remain state-owned. While you accommodate a number of generators we will generate electricity and sell it into the grid. You should also have a grid company, a grid company that deals with transmissions. And that too must be state- owned.
Distribution is another entity that needs to be looked at because a number of municipalities are already distributors of electricity. So you already have different types of architecture when it comes to distribution. Eskom is the main player in distribution but there are a quite a number of municipalities that also distribute. This whole ecosystem of generating electricity needs to be looked at in its full and in its totality.
What I like to make it clear is that we are not privatising Eskom. We are going to be looking at smart partnership that can be struck. It is possible that we can have smart partnership with other entities on certain aspects of Eskom. The smart partnerships is what we would promote whilst the state continues to have full control over transmission, yes, and on parts of generation.
In distribution the state will continue to play a role in distributing. That is the architecture that is playing out. But the main important aspect is that we want partnerships with the private sector. The private sector is going to play a key role with us as we restructure this electricity behemoth that we have. It is when we involve the private sector that we would be able to modernise, to embrace renewable energy technologies because technologies are coming at us fast and furious.
We also have to be responsive to climate change. Climate change is coming at us and the private sector is the main player in climate change technologies and we are also saying that Eskom must also play a role in climate change technologies. It must not be left behind. It is for this reason that we say Eskom is just too big to fail. It is too important for us to ensure that it succeeds. Thank you, hon Chairperson. [Applause.]