Chairperson, I was confused. I thought that hon Dudley was before me. Chairperson, Minister and Deputy Minister, hon members and visitors, President Jacob Zuma, in his state of the nation address, declared this year as a year of job creation and economic transformation.
The Department of Energy therefore has the mammoth task of ensuring that sustainable jobs are created through its programmes so that the lives of the people can be changed.
UMqulu weNkululeko owaqulunqwa ngowe-1955 yi-ANC e-Kliptown uthi kuyakubakho imisebenzi nokhuseleko. Eli sebe nalo ke ngoko kufuneka livale izikhewu ngokuqesha apho kufuneka liqeshe khona kwii-ofisi zalo njengesebe eliselitsha. (Translation of isiXhosa paragraph follows.)
[The Freedom Charter compiled by the ANC in 1955 in Kliptown says there shall be work and security. This department, therefore, needs to close the gaps by filling vacancies at their offices where these are needed, as a new and budding department.]
Black people constitute the highest number of the unemployed. Also, they are the poorest of the poor and still homeless.
Urhulumente unoxanduva lokuphelisa yonke le ntlupheko, ingakumbi ngokubhekisele koomama abasokola kakhulu kuba ngabona bantu bajongene neentsapho. Oomama ngabona bantu kufuneka beqinisekise ukuba iintsapho zikhuselekile kwaye zinamandla nakobu busika. (Translation of isiXhosa paragraph follows.)
[The government has the responsibility to eradicate all poverty, especially with regard to women who are suffering because they are the ones taking care of their families. Women are the ones who have to ensure that their families are safe and strong even during winter.]
The ANC supports Budget Vote No 29: Energy. The President has also formally launched the national Solar Water Heating programme in 2010, with the objective of ensuring that one million systems are installed in South Africa by 2014. This programme is being run parallel with Eskom initiatives, which had started as far back as 2008.
The government hopes that these and other initiatives will ensure the achievement of one million solar heaters in operation by 2014, hence contributing to saving energy.
The benefit of installing solar water heaters in residential areas is to reduce peak demand during winter, as the country's reserve margin is constrained. The largest electricity-consuming appliance in our households is usually the electric geyser. It typically makes up 30% of the total electricity used in many households.
A solar water heater can reduce this energy consumption figure by more than half. Also, local manufacturing of water heaters can contribute to job creation and skills development. Energy conservation schemes must also contribute to ensure continued economic growth.
South Africa is well endowed with renewable energy resources with the potential to produce biomass, wind, solar, small-scale hydro and waste energy. The South African energy policy creates an environment within which renewable energy technologies can be deployed.
Subsequent to the 1998 White Paper on Energy, a White Paper on Renewable Energy was adopted by Cabinet in 2003, with the target of a 10 000 GWh contribution to the final energy consumption by 2013.
Furthermore, the National Energy Regulator of South Africa, Nersa, introduced a renewable energy feed-in tariff, Refit. This is aimed at encouraging investment in renewable energy by offering guaranteed tariffs that are supposed to cover generation costs and ensure profits. At the same time, this will create a critical mass of renewable energy investment and support the establishment of a self-sustainable market and investors are given access to the national grid.
Eskom is designated as the renewable energy purchasing agency and is obliged to buy power from the independent power producers, IPPs, through power purchase agreements.
The Integrated Resource Plan, IRP, of 2010, includes renewable energy sources for electricity generation. Renewable energy will account for 16% of the adopted revised balanced scenarios. Since the adoption of the National Energy Act in 2008, the IRP 2010 has provided for recognisable action to support renewable energy in South Africa. This is indicative of government's intention to deploy renewable energy in electricity generation.
On clean fuel, the department will review the current transport fuel specifications and standards to reduce harmful emissions and to align standards with global vehicle trends and environmental requirements. Government hopes to have cleaner fuel made available to the public as soon as 2013.
The new specifications were underpinned by three imperatives: the need to contribute to public health, environmental concerns, and the need to enable more advanced combustion engines on South African roads. The low levels of sulphur would allow for the introduction of more efficient engines with less carbon dioxide emissions.
Liquefied petroleum gas, LPG, is a less-used but desirable fuel source in low-income households, especially where coal is unavailable. One of the key challenges for low-income households in terms of using LPG is the cost. LPG is too expensive, so low-income households resort to using coal and paraffin, which pose health hazards. The LPG containers are also very heavy.
Asiboni nokuba kukho ntoni ngaphakathi kula matanki erhasi kwaye athengwa ngabantu abaneemoto kuba anzima. Thina bantu bangenazimoto asiwathengi. [We cannot even see what is in these gas cylinders and it is only people driving cars who buy them for they are heavy. We, people without cars, do not buy them.]
The Department of Energy is developing an LPG strategy which will be submitted to Cabinet during this financial year. The main objectives of the strategy are to provide access to safe, cleaner, efficient, environment friendly and affordable thermal fuel for all households and to switch low- income households away from the use of coal and paraffin to biomass.
Soloko ingoomama ke abahamba ehlathini baye kutheza iinkuni kuba kufuneka bephekile. Kodwa ke, ezi nkuni zezi ziphinda zenze impilo yoomama ingabingcono. Ndiyabulela. [Kwaqhwatywa.] [It is always women who have to go to the forest and collect firewood because they must cook. However, it is the same firewood that causes them ill health. Thank you. [Applause.]]