Eskom

(This is part of ongoing correspondence on this topic)

To: Brian Dames
Chief Executive Officer, Eskom

By e-mail: brian [dot] dames [at] eskom [dot] co [dot] za

CC: President of South Africa, Mr Jacob Zuma (president [at] po [dot] gov [dot] za)
      President of Mozambique, Mr Armando Guebuza by  (www.presidencia.gov.mz)

Will Power Demand Lead to Another Destructive Dam on Southern Africa’s Most Heavily Dammed River?

Originally published in groundWork magazine, South Africa.

It’s a long and often bumpy ride from Maputo to the quiet villages perched above the Zambezi near Mphanda Nkuwa, a gorge whose name means “the scream of the passing water”. We drive through a lush valley awash with newly leafing spring-green trees and wildflowers on our way to Chinangwe. As we slow for villages, young girls come over to sell us mangoes, and boys to gawk at our big stack of camping gear. Finally, we arrive at the river and set up camp in the shade of a huge baobab tree. Here, where the government of Mozambique is pushing to build a large dam just downstream from the huge Cahora Bassa Dam, life is slow, hot and hard, but with a generous river running through it.

South Africa is one of the power houses of Africa with a strong private sector interested in spreading their investments throughout the continent. This could be of great benefit to sustainable development of other African countries were South African companies using the same standards they use at home. South Africa’s dialogued system arising from its new democracy had as one of its core goals the redress of the unbalances caused by apartheid, this contributed to the achievement of high social standards that have influenced positively its development. One such area is the water sector, where South Africa is regarded as one of the world leaders in legislation and rights. South Africa was the first country to contextualize the World Commission on Dams (WCD) report, after a multi-stakeholder process involving DWAF, Eskom, dam builders, affected dam communities and many other stakeholders. The WCD report was a multi-stakeholder global initiative chaired by Hon. Kader Asmal that analyzed over 100 dams worldwide assessing the shortfalls, problems, areas of conflict, success stories and solutions to ensure dams do not impoverish people and the environment from where they rely. Through a very inclusive process South Africa has now a consensual multi-stakeholder position on dams to ensure they will not cause the harms of the past. However, Eskom’s involvement in the neighbor Mozambique currently upholds and may even worsen the type of problems the new South Africa tries to avoid at home: deep social and environmental problems which only benefit the already rich.

With a generating capacity of more than 40,000 MW, South Africa–based Eskom is Africa’s largest energy utility, and ranks as one of the top five energy utilities in the world. Eskom is a de facto monopoly in South Africa, and also generates over half the electricity produced in the whole of Africa, with operations in 31 countries on the continent. Because of its heavy reliance on coal, it is the primary source of greenhouse gas emissions in South Africa. Eskom management has also stated that it intends to rely increasingly on nuclear power. And in recent years, Eskom has begun to promote new dams and buy existing hydropower plants around the continent as it seeks to expand its influence across Africa. This paper explores the company's social and ecological footprint across Africa.