{"id":2113,"date":"2026-01-05T05:57:32","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T05:57:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.innov8fs.co.za\/blog\/?p=2113"},"modified":"2026-03-18T11:46:04","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T11:46:04","slug":"south-africa-heading-for-another-disaster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.innov8fs.co.za\/blog\/2026\/01\/05\/south-africa-heading-for-another-disaster\/","title":{"rendered":"South Africa heading for another disaster"},"content":{"rendered":"

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South Africa is heading for disaster if urgent action is not taken to rescue its ailing industrial sector, warns mining expert Peter Major.<\/p>\n

Major\u00a0explained\u00a0that smelters in South Africa heavily depend on electricity, and the price increases have made them uncompetitive.<\/p>\n

He added that despite a deal two years ago in which Eskom cut electricity prices for smelters by 40%, the Boershoek and Vonnekop smelters were still on the brink of closure.<\/p>\n

\u201cEarlier this week, there were negotiations with Eskom where they\u2019ve given it a stay of execution for three months,\u201d he said, adding that Eskom hopes the pause will allow all parties to reach a workable deal.<\/p>\n

Major is cautiously optimistic about the immediate situation but warns of broader risks. \u201cThere\u2019s definitely hope, but the worry is, what about the other industries?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He pointed out that other sectors, including aluminium extrusion, copper refining, and steel production, are watching closely.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re going to say, \u2018Wow, you rushed to help the ferrochrome industry, that\u2019s great, but what about us?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Major argued that government missteps have particularly devastated the steel industry. \u201cI don\u2019t think anything drove our steel industry down more than government policies,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Major criticised the government\u2019s short-term, reactive approach. \u201cWhat we can\u2019t afford to do is knee-jerk policy. You\u2019ve got to have a firm, established policy.\u201d<\/p>\n

He emphasised the importance of cheap, reliable, on-demand electricity as the foundation of South Africa\u2019s industrial competitiveness.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s good news that the government\u2019s rushing now to save what smelters can still be saved, but they\u2019re almost stealing from Peter to help Paul,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

They are going to make up the difference in rates, either through consumers or through other industries.<\/p>\n

Major pointed to China as a model for industrial policy. \u201cChina has brought down the real cost of electricity year after year. Their main aim is to have the lowest cost of electricity to buttress their beneficiation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s got to be the stated goal of government in South Africa. We want to see decreases in electricity prices, not increases.\u201d<\/p>\n

Disastrous side effects and consequences<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n

Beyond electricity, Major highlighted the broader challenges facing South Africa\u2019s industries. \u201cIt takes a long time to build up a strong industry. Inputs like electricity, roadways, railways, ports, bureaucracy, licensing\u2014all of these matter,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s got to be one ideology: to make South Africa the most competitive country in everything we do, whether it\u2019s agriculture, mining, or tourism.\u201d<\/p>\n

Major argued that the collapse in South Africa\u2019s mining powerhouses was also due to poor policy, uncertain implementation, calls for nationalisation, and demands to have specific shareholders through the empowerment policy.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were a leviathan in the 1980s. Nobody could beat us. Anglo American was the largest investor in the United States. The Americans were terrified of us,\u201d Major said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou are now seeing what happened in Zambia and in Zimbabwe, now in South Africa. It has not turned around. It is still going down.\u201d<\/p>\n

Major explained previously that things began to change in South Africa in the 1990s, with the ANC government making significant changes to mining legislation and imposing transformation policies on the sector.<\/p>\n

These policies, often well-intentioned, have had disastrous side effects and consequences, with the government failing to course-correct.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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South Africa is heading for disaster if urgent action is not taken to rescue its ailing industrial sector, warns mining expert Peter Major. Major\u00a0explained\u00a0that smelters…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2113","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-innov8ions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.innov8fs.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2113","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.innov8fs.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.innov8fs.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.innov8fs.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.innov8fs.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2113"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.innov8fs.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2113\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2119,"href":"https:\/\/www.innov8fs.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2113\/revisions\/2119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.innov8fs.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.innov8fs.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.innov8fs.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}