It has often been said that necessity is the mother of invention. It might also be said, with the reality on the ground in South Africa, that it is the mother of creativity as well. This reality has just played with Afriforum out to set up a power plant to address South Africa’s electricity shortage.
South Africa is currently contending with the spectre of load shedding that has reached stage 6 at the time of writing. And there appears to be no solution in sight. On the contrary, the power utility company Eskom recently noted through a spokesperson that load shedding might continue for the next two years.
Of course, the idea of load shedding continuing for that long isn’t something anyone is prepared to entertain. As a matter of fact, South Africans, celebs and ordinary folks alike, have had enough, and they continue to state this on social media.
Kallie Kriel, chief executive officer of AfriForum, noted that the organization was looking at establishing a pebble-bed reactor that would generate electricity and address the current shortage in the country, but legislation has been a challenge.
Nuclear energy is nothing novel actually, but it has not taken deep roots across Africa. And the fear of radioactive waste from reactors has made some governments look away.
