Roelof Botha is right to commend Eskom’s outgoing CEO, André de Ruyter, (“Time to say goodbye to coal, and hello to sunshine”, January 9). De Ruyter did the best he could with a terrible hand against a rigged deck.
Where I disagree with Botha is in his focus on renewable energy as a primary solution to our energy crisis. Green energy is nowhere near ready to fulfil the vast needs of this country’s populace and industry. Where green energy has been tried globally, it has left homes unheated and industry at a standstill.
I am not against green energy. Powering up residential homes and low-demand commercial properties with such energy is a great idea. But we’re a country in drastic need of re-industrialisation. We need the type of power solar and wind cannot provide.
Coal provided SA with a cheap source of fuel. So cheap and abundant, in fact, that it managed to trick everyone into thinking Eskom was competent right up till 2007 when it was, in truth, incompetent from the get-go.
Additionally, we have vast untapped natural gas reserves that could catapult us out of this crisis. We just need to use it. But above all that, the source of power doesn’t actually matter. What matters is who is in charge of harnessing it.
A government monopoly will ruin anything it lays its hands on. Eskom and the other parastatals have proven that parastatals will be corrupt, mismanaged, and disastrous for citizens.
The solution is privatisation. After that private companies can pursue green energy initiatives. But before then nothing will work. It will all be wasted by a petty politician trying to make a quick buck.
Nicholas Woode-Smith
Cape Town
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