Is this where certain states in America are headed?

Editor's note: Perhaps we should consider using South Africa as a roll model as to how America should be managed? Here is your example America: South Africa implodes:

South Africa — The First Country Built on "Critical Race Theory" — Officially Implodes

________

Source: GZERO

South Africa struggles in the dark

February 14, 2023 | By Gabrielle Debinski

A woman cooks by a candlelight during one of the frequent power outages in South Africa. 

 Credit: REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko/File Photo

Things are dark in South Africa right now, both metaphorically and literally. Though not new, rolling blackouts have worsened in recent months, disrupting every aspect of daily life. With the situation near breaking point, President Cyril Ramaphosa declared a state of disaster in recent days, which allows the government to bypass bureaucratic hurdles to get stuff done.

Why are things so dire in Africa's most industrialized country, and what's the government's plan – if any – to fix it?

Lights out. The current crisis is centered largely on South Africa's collapsing state-run electricity grid, which relies on coal for 85% of its generation capacity. Blackouts and load shedding occur when demand outstrips supply, forcing the utility company to cut access – which has been happening regularly for years.

Meanwhile, Eskom, the state-owned energy company, which runs 90% of the country's electricity, has long been plagued by government corruption, cronyism, and mismanagement – most of which occurred under President Jacob Zuma, who is now facing a host of corruption charges. Consider that since 2007, no fewer than 14 people have been tapped to lead the energy agency, and they have left Eskom in rough shape, with the body now $26 billion in the red.

"Over the last 15 years there's really been a deterioration in being able to add generation capacity to the national grid – or adding new sources of capacity whether that's nuclear or renewable energy," says Eurasia Group expert Ziyanda Stuurman.

While the problem spans the African National Congress' time in power, which has been plagued by corruption scandals, energy access has long been an issue in South Africa. "The problem stretches back to South Africa's history of apartheid," Stuurman says, adding that "electricity provisions were never made available to the majority of citizens in the country."

What's more, as a result of political meddling and cumbersome bureaucratic hurdles to approving new contracts, some South Africans are left in the dark for up to 15 hours a day. Indeed, things have gotten so bad that morgue operators say that bodies are decomposing faster than they can bury them.

There are also growing concerns over food security. Case in point: South African poultry farmers were forced to cull 10 million chickens because abattoirs couldn't function amid constant power cuts.

Clearly, the failing power grid is having a big impact on domestic productivity. But economic output is also being curtailed by yet more crumbling infrastructure: the railway system.

Road to nowhere. The state-run freight railway system (never a sexy topic) is also in tatters. The system, called Transnet, is in such bad shape due to years of government underinvestment and corruption that companies are having to turn to alternate transport systems – like trucking goods to Mozambique. Indeed, one forensic auditor told a government commission that "Transnet accounted for 72% of all irregularly awarded contracts" during Zuma's time in power.

Please go to GZERO to continue reading.

_________  


America using South Africa as an example to follow. This is what you would call woke South African syndrome:

Florida Preschool Teacher Paints Students In Blackface For 'Black History Month'


Sanctions are economic warfare:

South Africa's $2 Billion Citrus Industry Sours With Lost Exports to Russia

It is estimated 500,000 South African farmers have left the country in the past three decades many of them going to Russia:

'They want us all to leave': South African farmer wants to move to Russia, change name to Ivan

It is possible Russia may come to South Africa's aid besides just military exercises:

South Africa's naval exercise with Russia, China raises Western alarm