Pretoria - Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi has singled out the City of Tshwane’s Rooiwal Power Station as one of two facilities that will generate more electricity and thus reduce load shedding.
Lesufi made the commitment when he delivered his maiden State of the Province Address on Monday, allocating more than R1.2 billion to deal with the energy crisis in Gauteng.
He delivered his speech at the Gauteng Legislature which sat at the Joburg City Hall, where he also bade farewell to outgoing Tshwane mayor Randall Williams.
He promised to give attention to the state of the municipality’s finances, which recently came under sharp focus following a damning report by Auditor-General Tsakani Maluleke.
Lesufi said the energy crisis remained one of the biggest challenges to the province’s accelerated economic recovery. He said his government welcomed the declaration of the National State of Disaster by President Cyril Ramaphosa during his State of the Nation Address two weeks ago.
He said Gauteng electricity deficit was focused at 4 058 megavolt-ampere mps in 2025, slightly high given Eskom’s inability to generate more from its current fleet.
“As Gauteng, we have been working on finding solutions to the energy crisis. We have established an energy crisis response team that engages with the National Energy Committee and works with local government and energy experts.
“We acted with urgency and convened the inaugural energy solutions expo to solicit views on what exists in the market, with the idea of creating partnerships to assist in finding lasting solutions.
“We were pleased with the overwhelming response from industry experts who provided much-needed knowledge on what we can do in the immediate, medium to long term.
“Commercial banks, development financial institutions and other funding institutions are eager to partner with us to respond to this challenge.”
Lesufi said to set the ball rolling, his government was releasing R1.2bn towards resolving the energy crisis in Gauteng.
“In a few weeks, we will appoint six developers who will commence the construction of a 800 megawatts solar farm in Merafong. This will be followed by the installation of rooftop solar panels in government buildings, especially hospitals, clinics and schools
“We will engage with City Power in Joburg as well as Tshwane’s Rooiwal facility, with an intention of supporting them to expand and generate more power.”
He also said they would meet owners of Kelvin Power Station to establish how they could partner with them to limit load shedding in Gauteng.
“From next week, we will advertise a call for proposals for alternative suppliers of energy that can contribute to the solution of the energy crisis and the re-industrialisation of Gauteng.
“We have learnt from the procurement of personal protective equipment. We will work with the Gauteng Ethics Advisory Committee and auditor-general to ensure the processes are transparent, fair and equitable.”
Lesufi said as from April 1 his government would invest in roof-top solar panels in health facilities, schools and libraries, to ensure they have energy and provide much-needed services.
“Together with municipalities, we will roll out smart metering. We will ensure that through this process, our young people will be trained, skilled and equipped in the energy space.”
While municipalities are expected to play a role in the fight against load shedding, Lesufi painted a grim picture about the very same municipal debt to Eskom. He said collectively, all local government municipalities in Gauteng owed Eskom R8.6bn, saying of that, R6bn was owed by Emfuleni Municipality alone.
“We must intervene to assist Emfuleni, a municipality that has great potential. Recently, we led a delegation to meet the officials and stakeholders of Emfuleni and Eskom management.
“Working together with the municipality, we are developing tangible programmes to assist this municipality with its challenges by appointing a capable municipal manager and chief financial officer.
“The other municipality that is worrying us is Tshwane, which has deteriorated,” Lesufi said.
Pretoria News