Tshwarelo Hunter Mogakane
Pretoria - Rebel billionaire Rob Hersov has launched a scathing attack against environmental activists who want South Africa to stop using coal in favour of renewable energy while Western countries exploit the home grown mineral.
Hersov stopped short of swearing at the foreign investors who fund local activists for them to take advantage of the country’s energy sources at the expense of a nation stuck with recurring electricity blackouts.
Known as a vocal investor who dislikes radical left political parties such as the EFF over their controversial policies, Hersov seems to have adopted their tone when addressing the sensitive energy issue facing South Africa.
“How can these green activists funded overseas dare impose moratoriums and blocks on us for our energy sovereignty? How dare they do that? We have fossil fuel, and we have almost infinite supplies of gas offshore and onshore.
“Foreign-funded activists tell us we can’t take advantage of what is under our feet. This is not a conspiracy. This is reality. International funds (are) preventing us from standing on our own feet and having energy sovereignty,” Hersov told online podcaster BizNewsTv.
He said the funding arrangement was a trap.
“What they want us to do is import debt-funded renewable technology, and the debt comes from them, which gives intermittent power, it doesn’t come 24/7, and we are not allowed to exploit resources under our own feet.
“If you went to the majority of South Africans and asked them what their priorities are, the green agenda (doesn’t) even make the top 10,” Hersov said.
Hersov, who has also been a staunch critic of ANC leaders, such as Minerals and Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe, admitted that he finally agreed with him insofar as coal use was concerned.
“I’m agreeing with him (Mantashe). We need not be embarrassed about our coal resources and we need to utilise them properly. We need to not be embarrassed about enormous onshore and offshore gas.
“We need to get moving and unlock that power. We can have energy independence in my lifetime; I’m 62. Gwede is right. Where he is wrong, he seems to be afraid of the international green agenda.
“He needs Barbarah Creecy, and he needs my buddy, Enoch Godongwana, to stand up, shoulder-to-shoulder with him and say to the international community, ‘Stuff you. We are South Africans. We’ve got the expertise.’ The private market will step up and we are going to do it,” said Hersov.
The billionaire added that international renewal energy funders are not pro-environment but are driven by profits. “They want us to be energy-dependent on them. That’s what’s going on. The greenies are the useful idiots.”
EFF national spokesperson Sinawo Thambo labelled countries such as Germany “environmental imperialists”.
“As we speak, Germany is demolishing a town to access coal. They are displacing people to mine coal.
“Environmental imperialists who preach renewables know that in the immediate, coal cannot be abandoned as an energy source. Africa must not be an experiment,” Thambo said.
Pretoria News