I call on the Minister to come clean on the extent to which the energy crisis is affecting the nation. The idea that Kusile and Medupi will mean a return to business as usual is for South Africa both troubling and misleading.
The Minister's own officials have privately admitted that the 5% growth as promised by His Excellency the President is in fact a complete impossibility. As the department knows, but isn't yet saying, there is insufficient energy flow available in the economy to achieve economic growth as promised by the President. It therefore goes without saying that just as 5% economic growth is a white lie of epic proportions, so too are the President's promises with regard to jobs. There can be no jobs without sufficient energy to drive economic growth.
Furthermore, I wish to express my concern that South Africa will most likely fail to reach its greenhouse gas emission targets. Let me be clear, we cannot for a moment accept another bout of ANC Aids-styled denialism. Global warming is a fact. Eskom is the world's second largest power utility emitter of carbon dioxide, CO2, globally. This is a fact. Another fact is that Kusile alone will produce 37 million tons of CO2 equivalent emissions annually. Coal emissions continue to have a disastrous effect on the health of our people. This is also a fact. A recent study by Greenpeace found ... [Interjections.] ... Sorry, hon member, if I may continue ...
A recent study by Greenpeace found that air pollution emissions from Eskom's coal-fired power plants are currently causing an estimated 2 200 premature deaths per year. This includes approximately 200 deaths of young children. The economic costs of this pollution to South Africa's society are R30 billion a year. It is unacceptable that the costs of mining, energy production, and energy-intensive industrial production are externalised while profits are privatised.
As such, the DA welcomes the department's encouragement of renewables, as well as carbon capture and storage technology as solutions to our ever expanding carbon footprint. However, the DA believes that an aggressive uptake of renewables within the energy mix, via the inclusion of Independent Power Producers, will be far more successful in lowering carbon emissions whilst introducing much-needed competition to the energy sector.
An area in which the country can be justifiably proud is the record number of private households that have been included on the national grid. To date, 4 million households have been electrified since 1991.
Although a good story to tell, the story does not seem to be heading for a happy ending. For example, government's ambition to reach universal access by this year, 2014, will not be met. Instead, claims that perhaps in 2021 or 2022, or 2025 as the Minister indicated today, is supposedly a more realistic timeframe. Yet, even this new target seems overly ambitious when one considers that electrification has dropped from approximately 400 000 per annum to 150 000 per annum.
Finally, let me take this opportunity to address the elephant in the room. The proverbial elephant I am referring to is, of course, the hon Minister of Energy. It is a matter of public record that the Public Protector has made adverse findings against the Minister in her previous capacity.