A forum discussing important information regarding the power issues that have affected platinum mines will be held by the South African Institute of Electrical Engineers (SAIEE) and will include representatives of Eskom, local authorities and engineering experts.

According to the President of the SAIEE, Ian McKechnie, the institute wants to get the key players into one room to discuss the business, industrial and private consumer views.

He said that the forum would give clear information on the extent of the problem and the strategies in place for now and the future.

"It is intended that this will assist decision makers in business and industry to better understand the depth of the current problem and help them to deal with it. This workshop also aims to provide the business and private consumer sector with advice on self-help strategies," he told Engineering News.

"Eskom will also outline what the forecast is for power supply over the next five years," he added.

Dwindling Power supplies have left towns in black-outs and mining companies were forced to shut their operations, although most have resumed production at 90 per cent power.

But the effects of the crisis have had some warning of longstanding economic problems and some fearing a recession.

Economist Mike Schussler told the Times that there was "a good chance" that South Africa's economy would not grow.

"It is becoming more and more obvious that we might be entering a recession," he claimed.

He has lowered his economic forecast to 2.6 per cent but was prepared to lower it further should the crisis continue.

In January, Richard Downing, Economist at the South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said business confidence had fallen to its lowest since October 2003 and agreed that there was "very real" risk of recession.

Michael MacDonald, Head of Economic and Commercial Services at the Steel and Engineering Industry Federation, said: "If the outages continue, people will be unable to fill export orders. They will lose customers - and once you've lost them, they're gone because you're not just exporting a product, you're exporting reliability of supply."

Source:

Electrical engineers arrange information forum on SA power issues, 06/02/08
http://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article.php?a_id=126301http://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article.php?a_id=126301

Top economists warn of recession, 07/02/08
http://www.thetimes.co.za/News/Article.aspx?id=700411

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