China offers to donate 66 gigawatts of solar, wind power equipment to South Africa:
The Chinese government has offered to donate South Africa solar panels and generators that can be installed at public institutions to prevent power disruptions, said Chen Xiaodong, China’s ambassador to South Africa.
Speaking during the China-South Africa New Energy Investment and Cooperation Conference on Tuesday, he said the equipment would provide 66 gigawatts.
Xiaodong said China’s response was in honour of its relationship and partnership with South Africa as part of Brics (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa).
China is South Africa’s largest trading partner, followed by the United States. In 2022, China accounted for 9.4% of South Africa’s exports and 20.2% of South Africa’s imports, according to the South African Revenue Service.
Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa said the electricity grid has the capacity for an additional 66 gigawatts of renewable energy. He added that the equipment from the Chinese government will help cover the expenses South Africa would incur if it received power from private companies.
Ramokgopa said the equipment from China will help the utility cater for the high court order to exempt hospitals and schools from load-shedding. The government has recently filed papers for leave to appeal this ruling, saying it would be impossible to implement.
Ramokgopa said Eskom was in the process of stabilising the national grid. A recent grid connection capacity assessment showed that up to 2024 there was capacity to connect about 32 000 megawatts of new generation to the grid, but only about 5 000 megawatts in those provinces that have so far been viewed as having the best wind and solar resources.
This ties into the problem Ramokgopa has noted, that the grid doesn’t have the capacity to accept new renewable projects.
He said the next bidding window for independent power producers will be issued in the second and fourth quarter of this financial year ending on March 31 2024.
Solar power projects will be available in Mpumalanga and wind power in the Northern Cape.
Ramokgopa said he expects more than 5.5 gigawatts of additional renewable energy projects to come online by 2026.
He added that the government has been working on interventions such as providing generators or solar photovoltaic and battery systems that are necessary to ensure continued power supply. This includes working with provincial governments and quantifying how much money would be required for these interventions.
Ramokgopa said that part of the interventions include putting out a request for proposal (RFP) to supply Gourikwa power station in Mossel Bay and the Ankerlig power station in Atlantis with natural gas.
The two power stations run on diesel, but have been converted so they can also use natural gas. Eskom hopes to switch from diesel to gas by December 2027.
“The intent is to have a gas main feedstock, which will be supplemented by diesel as and when it’s required,” Eskom stated in tender documents published this week.
Ramokgopa added that Eskom is hoping that gas will be a cheaper and more environmentally friendly source of fuel for the two stations than diesel.
He also announced that South Africa has signed a deal with Mozambique to help stabilise South Africa’s power grid.
On Monday, Ramokgopa met Carlos Zacarias, Mozambique’s minister of mineral resources and energy, at the Union Buildings on Monday and later confirmed that South Africa will get 100 megawatts from the neighbouring country.
“For now, we will get 100 megawatts and another 600 megawatts in six months’ time,” said Ramokgopa.
He said there had been a reduction in unplanned losses to less than 16 000 megawatts from more than 18 000 megawatts and planned maintenance had been reduced to about 2 500 megawatts, resulting in a reduction in load-shedding.
“Generation available from wind power has increased due to weather conditions in the coastal regions. Peak demand is averaging less than 29 000 megawatts, compared to 30 000 megawatts projected in the first week of June,” he said.
Mandisa Nyathi is a climate reporting fellow, funded by the Open Society Foundation for South Africa.
Gungubele: Government won’t sell its stake in Telkom:
The government has no intention of relinquishing its majority share in Telkom, according to Communications and Digital Technologies Minister Mondli Gungubele.
This comes after Telkom’s share price soared on Monday after the partly state-owned company’s confirmation that it was being courted for acquisition by a consortium led by former chief executive Sipho Maseko.
In an interview with the Mail & Guardian, Gungubele said he would be “very much worried if Telkom were to sell its majority stake [or] if the government were to support a majority stake somewhere else”.
“I still believe the future of Telkom lies in this current relationship they have with the government now and any other strategic relationship they deem fit,” he added.
The consortium, reportedly made up of Maseko’s Afrifund, Axian Telecom and the Government Employee Pension Fund managed by the Public Investment Corporation, is believed to be gunning for a controlling stake in Telkom. The government is the biggest shareholder with about 40%.
Gungubele said Telkom was still a strategic entity in helping South Africa leverage connectivity on the African continent.
“The kind of permutations that they are going to engage in — taking into account the infrastructure they command — is the only way Telkom guarantees green shoots, medium and long term. As far as I’m concerned, Telkom is still strategic to the government’s programme,” he said.
Telkom shares plummeted more than 30% in a single day last month after warning of a R13 billion writedown and a decline of as much as 105% in its annual earnings.
Gungubele said the company was going through a complex phase but the future looked bright in the medium term.
“Telkom is looking at unlocking its value because Telkom holds the biggest infrastructure. So how the government and Telkom relate and complement one another is going to go a long way,” he said.
“Where I am sitting, Telkom is reorganising leadership and I think Telkom will be fine.”
On Sunday, the Business Times reported that Maseko had presented Telkom with an offer of R46 a share. The offer, according to the report, was allegedly rejected for being too low and not in the best interests of Telkom shareholders.
Sextech and the mating habits of humans:
Your brain is your biggest sexual organ. Have you thought about it that way before? It’s a complex interplay of not yet fully understood dynamics involving your somatic and autonomic nervous systems both centrally (in the brain) and peripherally (nerve conduction outside of the brain).
This universal human drive is a driver of population growth, intimacy, meaningful connection and, hopefully, pleasure. It is a strange reality to consider that people seem to be having less sex than ever before, men’s sperm counts are lower than they have ever been and the sextech industry is booming. With so much of sex being cognitive, it makes sense that it’s digitisation is upon us.
How do we reconcile that 29% of Americans aged 35 to 45 haven’t had sex in the past year and that 17% of married Americans have sex only once a month? We don’t have data on South Africans, but if my general practice in Johannesburg is a reflection, people’s libidos don’t seem to be as high on their priority lists as their career aspirations or the burden of their bills to pay.
The latest United States Census Bureau report tells us that fewer men are looking for romantic, committed relationships than they were before the Covid-19 pandemic and that one in six men report that they have no close friends. With women under 30 earning more than their male counterparts and women not wanting to be partnered with men who earn less than them, the loneliness is growing.
What are the public health consequences of these trends? What does this mean for our species? Different sites state that up to a third of internet web content is adult in nature and 87% of American men watch porn daily. Pornhub reports that three in 10 of their users are female. It seems a likely explanation that the pandemic’s imposed isolation has had a significant effect on people’s pleasure-seeking behaviours. At the same time, the world has seen an uptick in sexually transmitted infections in the American population, which must mean that the people still having sex with real people are doing so unsafely.
It is a global phenomenon that men’s sperm counts are the lowest they have ever been in history and I wonder if having your cell phone snuggly tucked into your pocket has anything to do with the scrotum’s decrease in provisions. It’s difficult for our reproductive systems to escape the effects of the digital revolution.
The sextech industry is a $ 30 billion market. It boggled my mind to learn that while it took Facebook three years to gain 50 million users, it took Pornhub only 19 days to achieve the same. Pornhub is the Netflix equivalent for adult content. While this sex-use case may prevent some unwanted pregnancies and reduce the burden of chlamydia, it was Anaïs Nin who famously said, “Abnormal pleasures kill the taste for normal ones.” And she was right. More than 50% of men who watch porn suffer from erectile dysfunction that is entirely psychological. Which brings me to the estimated value of the erectile dysfunction drug market. In 2021, it was valued at $ 2.3 billion and is on an upward trend of 8.5% annually.
We have fewer people seeking partners; those who are seeking a partner can’t get an erection and the frequency of intimacy in longstanding relationships is on a decline along with men’s sperm counts. I am an advocate for inspiring reverence for the beauty and intelligence of the human body. I have faith in the design of the natural world. And I believe that meaningful human connection is what keeps humans sane. So it’s no surprise to me that this generational sexlessness and use of technology for auto-erotica is, in part, responsible for some of our collective psychic undoing and no one is talking about this flaccid elephant in the room.
How do we heal this evolution from how nature intended things to be? Are we accelerating towards a new reality where human form and function is metamorphosing? If we continue on this trajectory, that might be very possible. While we may be more efficient with gadgets and screens, I argue that we are losing the essence of what makes us unique and beautiful as a species. And the symptom of this loss is a debilitating effect on our mental health, which is a euphemism for widespread anxiety, depression, obsessive thoughts and suicidal ideation. Add to this bouquet, performance anxiety in the bedroom and not being aroused enough by the pretty girl next door when she comes knocking.
Because so much of our arousal is through cognitive stimuli, we need to be extremely mindful about tickling these networks artificially. A virtual reality where you can observe your greatest fantasy with any face you choose superimposed on the actor’s body is a potential quagmire. Why would you have sex with your husband when you can enjoy Mel Gibson virtually (I am showing my age here.) It also raises the question of consent in a wholly different way because, now, not only can technology put your face in the farmyard, it can dub your voice for a saucy dialogue with the virtual avatar.
I am not throwing water on all of the sexy spark these innovations are offering to the free thinking movement and making a certain kind of joie de vivre accessible to all and sundry. Perhaps we are also protecting a certain population from sex offenders who can now get their kicks safely with their screens. But what of the deep, quiet human need for touch, intimacy and human connection. I fear that if we lose this, we lose our very selves, for what are we but mirrors of one another.
Skye Scott is a GP based in Sandton. She has a special interest in patient education, integrative medicine and mental wellbeing.
The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Mail & Guardian.
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