South Africa: New Environment Minister throws potential lifeline to sinking Karpowership deal

Tony Carnie (Daily Maverick) 1 August 2024

Newly appointed Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Dion George has ruled in favour of the controversial Turkish powerships proposal for Richards Bay harbour. His decision comes despite strong indications from Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa that the entire Karpowership plan is dead in the water.

In a written decision signed on 17 July, the newly appointed minister of forestry, fisheries and the environment, senior Democratic Alliance party member Dion George, dismissed an appeal by two environmental justice groups against his department’s decision to grant environmental authorisation to Karpowership to moor two powerships in Richards Bay harbour to supply “emergency power” to the Eskom grid.

In his 187-page ruling, George rejected all 15 grounds of appeal by the Centre for Environmental Rights, acting on behalf of groundWork and the South Durban Community Environmental Alliance (SDCEA).

George appears to have been legally obliged to make a ruling on the appeal, even if his decision is rendered academic by other approval hurdles facing Karpowership.

Significantly, however, George’s political party has previously voiced strong criticism of what it described as the ANC government “bending over backwards to ensure that the Karpowership deal is pushed through at all costs”.



Now, George’s decision has raised questions about whether the Turkish company has indeed thrown in the towel for good — or is still hoping to salvage its plans to supply “emergency” powerships in three local harbours (Richards Bay, Saldanha and Coega).

Since the controversial plan surfaced in 2020, the Turkish group has faced a series of legal, environmental, regulatory and procedural battles to gain authorisation for the multibillion-rand proposal.

Karpowership has not responded to questions emailed by Daily Maverick on 31 July on whether it was walking away from the proposal, but TimesLIVE quoted Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa earlier this month saying the Karpowership deal was “off the table”.

Ramokgopa reportedly said: “That [Karpowership plan] has collapsed, they have lost their rights to the grid because they had three years to conclude the deal” and that the government could not create a “special dispensation for [Karpowership], otherwise you are going to open a can of worms because there are many others that lost [bids for the deal]”.

Now, George’s decision has thrown a potential lifeline to Karpowership to pursue the 20-year “emergency” power supply deal by removing obstacles to environmental approval — even though Karpowership has lost Eskom grid access and is still embroiled in legal disputes with its local empowerment partner, Powergroup South Africa, and faces another court case involving the National Energy Regulator’s refusal to disclose the full terms of its decision to grant Karpowership generation licences.
https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2024-08-01-new-environment-minister-dion-george-throws-potential-lifeline-to-sinking-karpowership-deal/


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