Electricity + Control January 2016

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Editor:
Wendy Izgorsek
Design & Layout:
Adél JvR Bothma
Advertising Managers:
Helen Couvaras and
Heidi Jandrell
Circulation:
Karen Smith
Publisher:
Karen Grant
EditorialTechnical
Director:
Ian Jandrell
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:
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Printed by:Tandym Print
Quarter 3 (July - September 2015)
Total print circulation: 4 758
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
Electricity+Control is supported by:
Iwish 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.
Where is the opportunity, you might ask? It is there,
and it is big. It needs capital to realise it.
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.
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.
What will be your contribution to the new future…
to the future of the greatest continent on the planet?
We can make this happen.
Ian Jandrell
Pr Eng,
BSc (Eng) GDE PhD,
FSAIEE SMIEEE
COMMENT
1 January ‘16 Electricity+Control