There's an electricity shortage in the nation of South Africa, long considered to be one of the few economic powerhouses on the African continent. What gives?
"The predicament was foretold. In 1998, a government report warned that at the rate the economy was growing, the nation faced serious electricity shortages by 2007 unless capacity was expanded. The government, led by President Thabo Mbeki, who assumed office in June 1999, tried unsuccessfully to induce private investors to build additional power plants. Only belatedly did it permit Eskom to begin the necessary expansion. “The president has accepted that this government got its timing wrong,” Alec Erwin, the public enterprises minister, said last Friday at a much-anticipated news briefing that broke a mystifying public silence."
Fundamentals: 1] 30 and 40 years ago, many believed that what held the continent of Africa back was white racism and imperialism. Eliminate imperialism from Africa, they said, and all would be well. Well, life isn't that simple. 2] The continent of Africa contains the highest concentration of incompetent, corrupt governments on earth.
