LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Elect accountable leadership or risk a voter backlash

The ANC insults South Africa by fronting its local election campaign with its first deputy secretary-general, the disgraced Nomvula Mokonyane (“ANC wants Gauteng to be a ‘megatropolis’”, August 23). Voters have not forgotten who this woman is.

In 2019 Mokonyane was implicated in corruption by Angelo Agrizzi, the former COO at Bosasa. He testified before the Zondo state capture commission that Bosasa paid Mokonyane a monthly cash retainer as part of an attempt to curry favour with ANC politicians who could influence the allocation of state contracts.

Other witnesses claimed Bosasa had paid for a birthday party for her, for her family’s groceries, for security upgrades at her home and possibly for her Aston Martin.

When Mokonyane testified before the commission in July 2020, she admitted that she had been friendly with Bosasa CEO Gavin Watson but denied having received any bribes or personal gifts from Bosasa.

The commission called her again in September 2020 after the owner of a guest house in Krugersdorp claimed that Mokonyane’s 40th birthday party had been held at his property in 2003 and had been financed by a R41,000 contribution from Bosasa. Mokonyane said she had forgotten about the party in question and did not know who paid for it.

The Zondo report recommended that the National Prosecuting Authority prosecute Mokonyane on charges of corruption and found that there were “clearly extensive attempts by Bosasa and its leaders, through various forms of inducement and gain, to influence Ms Mokonyane in her position as a member of the national executive, the provincial executive and an office-bearer in organs of state”.

According to the commission, there was sufficient prima facie evidence to establish that Mokonyane accepted gratifications from Bosasa — particularly in respect of the cash payments, birthday party and house upgrades — and, moreover, to establish that Mokonyane had been dishonest in denying knowledge of the inducements while testifying before the commission.

This is the shocking calibre and quality of disgraced politicians put up by the ANC to lead its 2026 local election campaign. Nothing more clearly indicates the bankruptcy of Ramaphosa’s party as it again shows the middle finger to South Africa’s voters.

There will be a reckoning on November 4.

Mark Lowe

Durban

Solar and wind are ruinously expensive for grid

By urging the electricity minister to spend more than R440bn on unwanted transmission lines for an expansion of the most expensive and unreliable forms of grid electricity known to man, namely wind and solar, Business Day is encouraging him to commit industrial sabotage (“Can the minister push through power pricing reform?”, August 21).

In every country that has tried them for grid electricity, solar and wind have proved to be an expensive disaster. Germany was once an advanced industrial country, getting her cheapest electricity from nuclear power. Then, in a fit of madness, she phased out nuclear and replaced it with tens of thousands of gigantic wind turbines and solar arrays at a staggeringly high cost. The result is soaring electricity prices, huge environmental damage, de-industrialisation and the crippling of the German economy.

Britain is following the same path to ruin, with insane investment in solar and wind, the phasing out of coal and the spurning of her gas fields. Again, soaring electricity prices and the shutting down of smelters, steelworks and other industries.

The main costs of solar and wind for the grid are the system costs and the enormous expense of accommodating this horribly unreliable and intermittent electricity while preserving frequency and voltage. When this fails, as it often does, whole regions or even countries are plunged into darkness, as happened in Spain in April 2025.

South Africa’s Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP) has been a mini disaster; fortunately, only a small number of renewables have been added to the grid. But they are very expensive and troublesome. The Northern Cape has some of the best solar conditions on earth, yet even so, its solar electricity is still terribly expensive.

To spend R440bn on transmission lines to bring this expensive, unreliable electricity to centres of demand would be the kiss of death for any hopes of South African industrialisation.

Andrew Kenny

Kleinmond

Voters versus elites in addressing SA’s challenges

I am not sure who Duma Gqubule thinks the “elites” are who will come to their senses when there is social upheaval (“South Africa’s vanishing jobs”, August 25). Modern society (including South Africa) is governed, through the vote, by the very people who will lead any social upheaval.

We had the July 2021 riots, and exactly what has changed? Does Gqubule really think mob justice (such as the recent xenophobic violence) is the answer?

He should direct his frustration towards the black majority voter’s ignorance. Not to urge them to social upheaval (a euphemism in South Africa for violence), but to elect political leadership that does not espouse racism or socialism.

Ian Ferguson

Via Business Day online

JOIN THE DISCUSSION: Send us an email with your comments to letters@businessday.co.za. Letters of more than 200 words may be edited for length. Anonymous correspondence will not be published. Writers should include a daytime telephone number.