Category: this is south africa

Eskom: Good news?

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On fairly regular occasions on this blog, we have taken the pi… we have taken the mickey out of state-owned electricity generating behemoth, Eskom. You can look here for most all of those posts.

But, credit where it is due, it does seem like Brian Molefe has begun some sort of turnaround at the much maligned power utility. There was a very positive – if characteristically honest – press conference this morning, at which these lines were uttered:

We don’t foresee load-shedding for the year unless something goes terribly wrong, but it is still conceivable because we are not out of the woods yet.

Fair enough – and they’ve done well right over summer (the last loadshedding was on 14th September 2015), so who’s to say that it might not continue through winter too – especially with new projects coming online as well:

The successful synchronisation of unit three of the R25bn Ingula hydro pump storage scheme to the grid last week will add 333MW, reducing pressure on the grid and allowing Eskom to undertake its maintenance programme.

Ingula is basically a huge version of the Steenbras pumped-storage scheme, which saved Cape Town from loadshedding on several occasions last winter.
In fact, the future’s so bright, we may have to wear some sort of eye protection:

Mr Molefe said Eskom was working very hard to conclude its construction of the Medupe and Kusile power stations ahead of target. The two power stations and Ingula will add about 11,000MW to the grid on completion of them all in about five years’ time.
On completion, he said, SA would have enough electricity for economic growth and perhaps even a surplus to sell to its neighbours.

A surplus? Blimey.

Of course, there are still uncertainties – like the fact that there’s not ever so much water to run through the Ingula turbines at the moment, and like the vicious circle of the crappy economy caused by the shortage of electricity meaning that Eskom will have to pay more for its loans, meaning that prices will have to go up (again) or less maintenance and building will be possible.

But generally, better – right?

UPDATE: Here’s an alternative view though:

The improved outlook is less about what the state power utility is doing and more to do with an economic slowdown.

OK, that’s not great. But still… no loadshedding, right? #GlassHalfFull

Another one bites the dust…

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As King Freddie once infamously told us:

And another one gone
And another one gone
Another one bites the dust

A Facebook post yesterday announced the untimely end of Zebra & Giraffe.

Z&G 2008-2016

It’s with sadness in our hearts that we announce the end of Zebra & Giraffe. Kirstenbosch Gardens (20th March 2016) will be our last show for the foreseeable future.
We’d like to thank each and every one of our fans over the years – your support and love for our music has made this amazing journey possible.
Over the past 8 years we’ve achieved so many things that we’re proud of; we’ve poured our hearts and souls into every recording and every show, but the time has come for each of us to move onto different things.

Why is it that all the good ones go so soon? I’d only just got over Dry The River splitting up, and I’d only just got over a-ha going their separate ways before that. Now, I’ve got virtually no time to get over the demise of Zebra & Giraffe before I have to try and get over a-ha again.

And yet the Parlotones are still a thing. There is no God.

Of course, I used to appreciate the Parlotones, but then they took (for me) a disappointing direction musically and commercially, and I went off them, quickly. Apparently though, according to The Tall Accountant, I should be checking them out again though. We were even going to go and see them next month. I’m nothing if not a glutton for punishment open-minded.

But I digress…

Zebra & Giraffe were different. They didn’t release enough, but what they did release was properly good stuff – just the right mix of pop, electronica and rock. I saw them numerous times from the My Cokefest at Lourensford performance in 2009 when they joined the rest of the audience after their set, supporting the Killers at Val de Vie, and – probably most memorably – with the Dirty Skirts at Wynberg School at a concert that only 12 people turned up to watch. Greg called it “intimate”.

4181041728_00f2d7cc61_b

Happy days. But it would be wrong not to finish off with some music here. I’ve already shared a lot of Z&G stuff on here, including my favourite In My Eyes, but here’s a fresh one, albeit from the beginning, right back in 2008 – this is Arm Yourself.
[dj mode off]

As a goodbye gift from the boys, you can download their last single, Redefine, free of charge on Soundcloud here. Ridiculously rocky. A fitting farewell.

I’m properly sad.
Good luck, Greg et al. Thanks for the memories.

Good shot!

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It was, as I remember, almost a year ago that three German warships gathered their collective might off the southernmost tip of Africa and accidentally failed to accidentally sink a local fishing boat.

Not to be outdone, the South African Navy has raised the stakes by apparently attacking an actual warship – the SAS Drakensberg – also “accidentally”. As you may already have gathered from the name of the vessel in question, this was somewhat of an own goal, since the SAS Drakensberg is a fleet replenishment ship belonging to… er… the South African Navy.

The SA Navy confirmed that the strike craft SAS Isaac Dyobha accidentally discharged one of its guns and hit the SAS Drakensberg with a practice round, damaging its port-side deck, while both ships were berthed in Port Elizabeth harbour.
The incident occurred during the Armed Forces Day military exhibition in Port Elizabeth, which was attended by 25000 people.

Oops. Awkward.

Still, given that PE is known as the “Friendly City”, there are few better places for a friendly fire incident to take place.

1288926_1054823The SAS Drakensberg’s undamaged side. The damaged side looks like this, except damaged.

According to the Times report:

Other accidents involving South African vessels include:

  • A frigate dropped a 4.5-inch round on a Simon’s Town school playground [it did not explode];
  • Twenty years ago a strike craft fired a 76mm round through a building at Salisbury Island, Durban; and
  • Six years ago, a frigate fired a 35mm round through its own aft section in Simon’s Town.

Meh. We’ve all done it. Especially the shooting yourself in the foot arse one.

Cycle Race

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It was the big bicyling event in Cape Town again this weekend, with many bicyclers raising money for charities and many more raising blood pressure for any of the city’s 4 million odd residents trying to actually do anything with their Sunday.

This is one of the biggest bicyling events in the world, and certainly the biggest in Africa. Friendly foreign person Oleksiy Mishchenko came down to the Cape to do some bicycling and found a uniquely African way to train for this uniquely African event.

Contrary to popular belief, we don’t (generally) have wild lions roaming around Cape Town CBD. There are some zebras on the mountain *points* just there, though. However, ostriches are fairly common in this little corner of Africa – especially down towards Cape Point where these guys were bicyling.

Training using ostriches is frowned upon by the SA Bicyling Union, given that we’d still have dodos if it wasn’t for those pesky penny-farthing races on Mauritius in the mid 1800s. Still, these foreign people probably weren’t to know that, so we’ll just wish them well and say thanks for the laughs.