In the last week of January, R9bn ($1.2bn) in equity investments fled South Africa, not because of any catastrophic political event, but because at 10.30 on the night of January 24, the state electricity provider, Eskom, declared force majeure on electricity supplies. This meant that the mining industry, accounting for about half the country’s exports and employing, directly and indirectly, 1m people was told to immediately cut power consumption by 10 per cent.
Some businesspeople believe this did more harm not just to mining, but to the entire economy, than any other single development since 1994. This was in part because it dented the country’s image as a well-managed economy, but also because it signalled – something many people knew anyway – that infrastructure and skills shortages would constrain economic performance over the next five years.
