AIDC Alternative Information & Development Centre
As the country plunges deeper into an energy crisis, the Alternative Information and Development Centre (AIDC) invites you to join us for a series of webinars on loadshedding and South Africa’s energy crisis. The webinars will provide insights into what is behind loadshedding and the multiple problems facing Eskom, offering a historical perspective on the utility’s evolution, tracing the beginnings of its corporatisation, the dimensions of its failures and then examining the inadequate responses offered by the government so far.
Following this dissection of the current energy crisis, we will shine light on the reasons behind the failure of the introduction of free basic electricity in addressing energy poverty and how to address it, before turning to look at the unfolding response to the energy crisis illustrating the threat that Green Structural Adjustment and liberalization poses to South Africa’s power system.
The dire issue of climate change cannot be ignored, and so the webinar series will also give great focus to the need for a Just Transition towards renewable energy, and the importance of resisting the unjust and impractical neoliberal philosophy that has guided government management of Eskom.
Beyond a diagnosis of loadshedding and the crisis at Eskom, the webinar series will show how fixing Eskom is critical if we are to deal with immediate energy needs, as part of a longer-term strategy to put South Africa on a path of decarbonisation.
WEEK 1: Loadshedding and governments response to the Energy Crisis
Date: 28 September 2022
Speakers: Gaopalelwe Santswere – Deputy President of the Nuclear Industry Association of South Africa
Unpacking the loadshedding crisis-linked to Eskom’s multifaceted crises
Sandra Van Niekerk – Public Services International’s Climate Change Project Coordinator
Corporatisation of Eskom
Brian Kamanzi – Energy policy researcher at the Institute for Economic Justice
Assessment of government’s proposals
For week 1: REGISTER HERE
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.
WEEK 2: Green structural adjustment and energy poverty
Date: 11 October 2022
Speakers: Tracy Ledger – Senior Researcher at the Public Affairs Research Institute
Full cost recovery model and the need for FBE
Dick Forslund – AIDC Senior Economist
Austerity and the liberalisation of the energy sector
Trevor Shaku – SAFTU National Spokesperson
Labour movement’s perspective on the energy crisis
WEEK 3: Energy democracy: the need for a public pathway
Date: 25 October 2022
Speakers: Irene Shen – Public Outreach Coordinator for Trade Unions for Energy Democracy
Failure of neoliberal climate policy
Dominic Brown – AIDC Director
A low-carbon reindustrialisation programme for SA and one million climate jobs
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