Government Will ‘Embrace’ Private Power Generation – Ramaphosa Assures SA’s Largest Business Lobby Group

Riyaz Patel

South Africa will embrace efforts by businesses to generate their own electricity, President Cyril Ramaphosa assured a conference organized by Business Unity South Africa (BUSA) Tuesday.

He was reacting to growing frustration at red tape impeding private power generation, and is under mounting pressure over nationwide power cuts that have retarded economic output and drained investor confidence in Africa’s most industrialized economy.

Many power-hungry companies such as mines want to build their own renewable energy plants to reduce their reliance on Eskom, which generates more than 90% of the country’s electricity, but have not been able to secure the necessary regulatory approvals.

“For the first time we are now saying let us have self-generation,” Ramaphosa told the country’s largest business lobby group in Johannesburg.

“We have opened up a new era … that says we are now embracing the fact there are those companies and households that want