By David Monyae
South Africa recently took delivery of a donation of 450 diesel and petrol generators worth R170 million from China meant to cushion critical public facilities such as clinics, courts, schools, and police station from the scourge of loadshedding and ensure uninterrupted service delivery.
The generators will help South Africa’s power utility, Eskom, comply with a high court ruling to exempt hospitals and schools from power cuts. South Africa is currently facing a crippling power crisis with power cuts lasting more than six hours a day as Eskom has lost much of its supply capacity.
The donation is part of the Technical Assistance Programme signed between South Africa and China during the Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state visit to South Africa in August. China pledged to donate emergency electrical equipment to ease loadshedding woes in addition to a R500 million development grant.
This kind gesture which is a symbol of South Africa-China friendship has surprisingly divided opinion in the South African public. It was met with derision in some quarters as some ridiculed how small the generators were and quipped that they wouldn’t be able to keep lights in a household on. Some rather shockingly argued that the donation was evidence that China does not hold South Africa in high regard.
South Africa’s main opposition party came out guns blazing arguing that the donation of the generators was not a solution to the power crisis but rather a reflection of the failures of the African National Congress (ANC) government. The party said China was “more than happy to dump the gasoline-guzzling generators to the hapless ANC government” while it invested in renewable energy sources at home”.
Moreover, “with the number of schools, clinics, hospitals, and police stations around the country, the donation is a drop in the ocean as it will not cover half of those facilities. Besides, one generator would struggle to provide enough power to supply an average-sized health centre”, said the DA. Another opposition party, Build One South Africa (Bosa), stressed that the government cannot rely on charity from China to address the country’s power crisis.
The Julius Malema-led Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) also chipped in saying that it was “disconcerting to witness our Minister of Electricity enthusiastically welcoming donations of 450 generators from China when this gesture does not provide a lasting solution to our energy crisis”.
Under normal circumstances and in a normal country, such a kind gesture from a friendly country would be received with gratitude and appreciation as part of the culture of ubuntu.
However, nothing is normal in South Africa at the moment. The elections scheduled for 2024 are around the corner and it is expected that the opposition parties will stand ready to throw an obligatory tantrum at everything the ruling party does to score political points.
They were certainly not going to allow the ANC government to have its moment in the sun as it received the generators from China while positioning itself as if it is doing something about loadshedding. It is a season where anything and everything will be politicised. Nonetheless, one cannot ignore the fact that China’s ruling party the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the ANC are old friends.
The possibility that the donation could have been timed to shore up the political capital of a sister party facing political headwinds cannot be ruled out. Be that as it may, this donation will go a long way in alleviating loadshedding especially in hospitals where power outages can be a matter of life and death for the patients.
Just two years ago in the midst of the Covid-19 crisis, China was one of South Africa’s biggest donors having delivered tonnes of personal protective equipment such as masks, medical gowns, surgical gloves, shoes, goggles, testing kits, and thermometers to help the country cope with the pandemic.
These donations did not trigger a hullabaloo like the one we are witnessing now. Instead of pointless and embarrassing bickering over the donation of the generators, South Africans should be thankful and appreciative for the solidarity and camaraderie shown by the China as they face the energy crisis. China certainly does not have a shortage of problems at home.
For the Asian giant to go out of its way to make this substantial donation is testament to its commitment to its relationship with South Africa. Moreover, part of the negative reaction to the donation can be linked to an existing anti-China sentiment in the country despite the fact that China is South Africa’s biggest trading partner and one of its biggest sources of foreign direct investment.
South Africa’s close cooperation with China has come under close scrutiny of late with the growth of BRICS and the compatibility of the two countries’ positions on global issues. This has not been appreciated by some pro-West political parties such as the DA and some sections of the media. An innocent donation of generators is unfortunately viewed through a paranoid and zero-sum geopolitical lens.
That said, the South African government must ensure that the generators reach the intended beneficiaries. This is a legitimate concern that has been raised by the critiques.
We have seen how in some countries aid is diverted and stolen by the political elite. If the ANC’s track record is anything to go by, such ignoble acts are certainly not beneath it.
*Monyae is Director of the Centre for Africa-China Studies at the University of Johannesburg
**The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of Independent Media or IOL