Electricity + Control January 2016

COMMENT

I wish you all the best for 2016 which, I believe, will be an interesting year. Last year saw a number of events that brought into stark reality the fragility of, not just our country and continent, but our world. Wars raged; climate change continued to be a debate not just lead by the frivolous; and we were forced to scrutinise leadership at various levels on the continent. We also saw that remarkably peculiar individuals can be taken for serious presidential candidates in the largest economy on the planet! It was a fascinat- ing year and we have come through it having all learned important lessons. Would that everyone was paying attention. I am not an economist but I am concerned that the rest of the world is by no means the rosy place it appears, to the likes of us, whose currency is drift- ing on the sea according to international perception (well-founded, I might add). We need to look very carefully at the massive economies of the East and West. There are challenges, and there is a sense that it could all come tumbling down in a heartbeat. Where does that leave us? Well, not by any means on a ‘continent into which all the continents can fit’ – but on an African continent into which most of the developed (and some of the developing) world CAN fit. By land area alone, the USA, China, India, Western Europe and Japan can all be shoe-horned into our continent (Japan fitting quite nicely into Madagascar…). What cannot escape us is that, beneath the soil lie the most abundant natural resources. There are riv- ers that flow no matter what; there are people – the most critical of all resources and there is sunshine the likes of which no other continent sees. Sufficient tax revenue is raised on this continent to achieve the most ambitious goals. It takes leader- ship, political will and foresight to actively channel resources into those endeavours that can genuinely see this continent rise to be at the forefront of de- velopment and growth. Will we, this year, have the courage, the foresight and the will to make it begin to happen? Each of us can contribute to that reality. Where is the opportunity, you might ask? It is there, and it is big. It needs capital to realise it.

I am of the view that 2016 will be a watershed year – for many reasons and in many spaces. I am confident that increasingly you will see civil society standing up to be counted – inasmuch as one city can see its international credit rating rise while that of the country declines. In our interconnected and global village, civil society will work around many of the formal structures ostensibly set up to be of assistance – but more often ending up being a hindrance.

Editor: Wendy Izgorsek

Design & Layout: Adél JvR Bothma

Advertising Managers: Helen Couvaras and Heidi Jandrell

Circulation: Karen Smith

Publisher : Karen Grant

What will be your contribution to the new future… to the future of the greatest continent on the planet?

EditorialTechnical Director: Ian Jandrell

We can make this happen.

Quarter 3 (July - September 2015) Total print circulation: 4 758

Published monthly by: Crown Publications cc CnrTheunis and Sovereign Sts Bedford Gardens PO Box 140, Bedfordview 2008 Tel: (011) 622-4770; Fax: (011) 615-6108 e-mail: ec@crown.co.za admin@crown.co.za Website: www.crown.co.za Printed by:Tandym Print

Ian Jandrell Pr Eng, BSc (Eng) GDE PhD, FSAIEE SMIEEE

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The views expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the publisher, the editor, SAAEs, SAEE, CESA, IESSA or the Copper Development Association Africa

January ‘16 Electricity+Control

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