Activists say draft electricity plan will deepen energy poverty:
The government’s draft blueprint to tackle the energy crisis in South Africa supports substantial fossil fuel-based generation that is likely to worsen energy poverty and must be rejected, according to the Life After Coal campaign.
This is contained in their comments on the draft Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) 2023, which the campaign, together with Black Girls Rising, was recently submitted to the department of mineral resources and energy.
According to their submission, by failing to lay out, motivate and adopt a clear least-cost pathway, and by not accounting for the costs of externalities “and thereby overlooking the hidden costs in a fossil fuel heavy generation mix”, the IRP 2023 will exacerbate energy poverty.
“Expensive electricity hampers development, and affects the poorest people in society the most,” the groups said, emphasising, too, that expensive and economically risky technologies, such as extensive gas-to-power, are not necessary. The campaign is a joint environmental justice campaign by Earthlife Africa, groundWork and the Centre for Environmental Rights.
‘Not fit for purpose’
The draft IRP 2023 is not a fit-for-purpose electricity resource plan. “It does not align with a just transition, and fails to meet the fundamental needs of ensuring a reliable electricity delivery system at least cost and per, inter alia, the constitution and the Bill of Rights,” they said.
As an exercise of public power, the adoption of an IRP is subject to the principle of legality. “As such an IRP 2023 must be rationally connected to its purpose, it must not contravene any section of the constitution or relevant legislation, and it must be subject to reasonable public participation as demanded by the circumstances.”
On these bases, they said, the IRP 2023 is vulnerable to challenges based on the “failure to meet the necessary standards of legality”.
Flaws, scepticism
Their submission highlights “fundamental flaws and scepticism” in the plan’s ability to ensure affordable electricity supply, energy security and upholding the constitutional right to a healthy environment.
“The delayed decommissioning of an unreliable existing coal fleet perpetuates the costly and dangerous health crisis caused by deadly air pollution from coal-fired power,” they said, noting that the plan fails to account openly for the costs of these related effects. In 2023, Eskom stated that its coal pollution kills more than 300 South Africans a year. Additionally, 32 000 South Africans could die if the country does not transition to a more sustainable pathway
The notion that the energy plan envisages new coal in its long-term outlook, falsely relies on unproven technology to capture carbon emissions in the pursuit of so-called clean coal, “a myth supported by fossil fuel interests”.
Engagement with the public has been exceptionally poor in this process, with short commenting periods, and only two online public engagements. “In addition, the provision of underlying information has been limited and there are few explanations or available calculations to motivate the choices that the IRP claims to prefer.”
Climate effects
The submission described how the government has confirmed South Africa’s extreme vulnerability to the effects of climate change. These will largely be felt through significant warming (as high as 5°C to 8°C, over the interior by the end of this century); effects on water resources, such as decreased water availability; and a higher frequency of natural disasters.
The groups noted that the effects of drought, extreme weather events, and fires in South Africa have cost the country billions. “Virtually every province in the country has recently experienced, or is currently experiencing, severe, extended drought.
“The impacts of climate change are crippling livelihoods and jobs, and will have long-term impacts on food security, food prices, human settlements, and health. Government is having to subsidise these high costs, and will increasingly have to do so.”
These effects will be exacerbated by a decision to expand or extend the use of fossil fuels for electricity production, the groups argued.
Protect people against these effects
South Africa has already experienced more warming than the rest of the world. From 1931 to 2015, western parts of South Africa, including much of the western and Northern Cape, and also in the east over Gauteng, Limpopo and the east coast of KwaZulu-Natal, warmed by 2°C/century or even higher — in the order of twice the global rate of temperature increase.
“This trend is predicted to continue, with resulting increases in extreme heatwaves, drought, water and food insecurity, wildfires, storms and flooding, sea level, and vector-borne diseases already underway.”
It is the constitutional imperative of the government to ensure that people in South Africa are protected against these effects — that their rights enshrined in the constitution are upheld and protected.
“There is no justifiable basis on which the rights to life, dignity, and an environment not harmful to health and wellbeing could be limited by plans to develop further fossil fuel capacity, where less harmful alternatives are available. Further, economic development and sustainable livelihoods will be compromised in a country devastated by the effects of climate change.”
In the next 10 years, significant ambition is needed to sufficiently reduce greenhouse gas emissions within the necessary trajectory range and to get South Africa where it needs to be to avoid the worst effects of the climate crisis.
Doing this requires a commitment to phase out existing fossil fuels and halt new fossil fuel investment as soon as possible “and certainly to refrain from locking-in to new fossil fuel infrastructure, which is not needed”.
But despite available science, evidence of harms and the incontrovertible acknowledgement by the government of the country’s exposure to the harms of climate change, the draft IRP inclusion of fossil fuels, “in the manner it has done so, is in contradiction to the just transition and climate response imperative.
“We submit that it is both unreasonable and irrational, in addition to posing a substantial threat to the constitutional rights of the people of South Africa.”
World Health Day: SA’s public health sector facing crisis amid budget cuts:
The theme of this year’s World Health Day on 7 April is “my health, my right” and emphasises the right to health and health care. The South African constitution resonates with this theme by saying that everyone has the right to have access to health care services, including reproductive health care, and no one may be refused emergency medical treatment. The state must take reasonable legislative and other measures, within its available resources, to achieve the progressive realisation of each of these rights.
Approximately 83 out of every 100 people in our country depend on the public sector for their health care. As we enter the new financial year in South Africa, the massive budget cuts in the public health sector make one somewhat cynical about the progressive realisation of these rights. As the health sector tries to bounce back from the crisis of Covid-19, a new funding crisis is imposed.
I am familiar with the impact on the Western Cape, but all provinces are facing similar constraints.
What are the implications of this for health care? One of the immediate consequences is a moratorium on the filling of posts. As health workers leave their posts they may not be replaced. In the Western Cape alone 1,958 posts are now unfunded and cannot be filled.
This has a direct effect on the ability to deliver services. Funds for locum staff are not available and many facilities depend on such staff to provide 24-hour cover. At some facilities, hospital beds have been limited. However, fewer hospital beds does not reduce the demand but means patients will spend more time on trolleys or floors in the emergency centre and may not be admitted. Elective surgical services are being reduced, particularly in orthopaedics, which means people will wait even longer for such assistance.
The South African Academy of Family Physicians said: “Our staff, our services, our communities, and the very existence of the medical profession are at risk of significant and long-lasting damage. Is this a justifiable price to pay for this attempt at balancing the national fiscus?” Undoubtedly the erosion of health care services will have a disproportionate effect on poor and vulnerable communities.
In 2023, the department of health and wellness in the Western Cape announced it faced massive in-year cuts to the budget. This resulted from cuts to conditional grants (R718 million), re-formulation of the allocations between provinces (R594 million) and an unfunded wage bill (R1,1 billion). This was due to a public sector wage increase that was agreed to by the government, but not funded by the treasury. The increase therefore had to be absorbed into the existing budget.
In the 2024/25 financial year, further cuts are expected as the 2.5% increase in allocation is overshadowed by the 6.5% medical sector inflation. A further R807 million shortfall is predicted for 2024/25 and this trend is expected to continue for the next three to five years.
How did we end up in this predicament? Many explanations are put forward and many factors are likely to be important. Treasury will say that revenue in South Africa has decreased, and we have been spending above our means. Others will point to state capture and corruption, borrowing during the pandemic, the unfunded wage bill, the funds needed to solve or mitigate the energy crisis, and our huge financial commitment to the ongoing basic income grant.
One must also take a moment to think of the psychological impact on the remaining healthcare workers. Having survived the pandemic and starting to fight back against some of the ground lost with other diseases such as HIV, Tuberculosis (TB) and diabetes, healthcare workers are again expected to rise to the challenge of providing health care but with even fewer resources.
Many managers are distraught and demoralised as their plans for quality improvement are founded on the rocks of fiscal constraints. The healthcare workers left behind as people leave face the same demands and workload from the public but with fewer resources. Burnout and depression are rampant, especially among junior health professionals.
Indeed, many doctors who just completed their community service are unemployed. Ironically our medical schools have increased the training of doctors dramatically over the past two decades in response to government calls for more doctors, but now the government is unable to take advantage of the increased supply. Such doctors may turn to the private sector or emigrate to pursue better opportunities in other countries.
In the Western Cape, there has been a commitment to protect primary healthcare services as much as possible. These services are the one part of the health system that can improve health while saving costs. This is mostly because of the ability to promote health and prevent disease in the communities served. Such community-oriented primary care is a small ray of light in the dark clouds of budget cuts.
Community health worker teams and their primary care facilities continue to offer immunisations, family planning, antenatal and postnatal care, as well as services for TB, HIV, diabetes and many others. However even here services will need to be rationalised and some initiatives, such as mobile wellness centres, may be terminated. It is hard to imagine any new innovations to improve the quality of care being implemented in such a climate.
On World Health Day 2024, the theme of “my health, my right” seems to be besieged with problems and challenges in our country. We need the public and civil society to demand that their right to health and health care be fulfilled.
Prof. Bob Mash is the Executive and Divisional Head of the Department of Family and Emergency Medicine in the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at Stellenbosch University. The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Stellenbosch University.
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