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What Britain's Departure from EU Will Mean for South Africa

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What Britain's Departure from EU Will Mean for South Africa POST PAGE 8 OMMENT December 11 - 15 2019 C EDITOR’S VIEW What Britain’s departure from EU Six stages of how power will mean for South Africa taken from World on tenterhooks as UK goes to the polls this week, with Boris Johnson’s Brexit a likely winner JUGGERNAUT a skills-based system that will only allow high-earning professionals with scarce skills the people into the country. Let’s now talk about the other British staple: fish and chips. Currently, the EU has a Common Fisheries Policy setting quotas for member THE good news is that by this weekend load shedding states as to which fish they are allowed will, most likely, be over – for now. to catch. Industries will shut down for the holidays, mean- Think about it: the former colonial ruler ing there will be less demand for electricity. of most of the planet currently requires However, the damage to the economy has already KANTHAN PILLAY permission from Europe to decide how been done. This latest round of load shedding, which much fish could be taken from its own ter- rose to Stage 6 this week, probably did enough to ritorial waters… push our economy into a recession and seal our fate UP UNTIL early 2009, South Africans could With Brexit, British fishermen will have as a country destined for junk status. travel to the UK without needing a visa. sole access to UK fishing waters; potentially But we should not be surprised that the situation Today, a 10-year visa to visit the UK sets doubling their catch sizes. is getting worse rather than better. In fact, it is more us back R20 437. Yet every single day, there Similar to this is the Common Agricul- than likely that our electricity problems will get worse are five long-haul flights departing OR Tambo tural Policy. in the months and years. International for London Heathrow. And that This provides subsidies to farmers across Our current lack of electricity has its origins in the does not take into account those who fly to the EU, but there has been some evidence years after democracy. Back then Eskom undertook the UK via Europe or the Middle East. that food prices have been artificially high a massive electrification programme, and rightly so. We, in South Africa, like India, have a for British taxpayers as a result. However, we didn’t build more power stations to deep and enduring relationship with our for- Exit the EU and food prices will possibly generate enough electricity to meet the demand from mer colonial masters – a relationship which decline. a growing number of consumers. extends beyond the English language, tea, The EU has a web of regulations around As a result, in November 2007, we experienced or cricket. labour matters; particularly around working our first round of load shedding. That is now 12 years And perhaps that’s why we pay far more hours. The UK has applied for exemptions ago. attention to goings-on in the former empire from this in the past, claiming that these During this time, Eskom’s existing power stations than we do to their fellow Europeans. impede economic growth. became older. And, they became more prone to The UK goes to the polls this week, cap- Leaving the EU means these rules will no breaking down. ping a three-year period of turmoil since longer apply, resulting in less red tape. We did try to increase supply by building Medupi the populace voted by a narrow majority to But what opportunities does a UK exit (which means “rain that soaks parched lands”) leave the EU. from Europe present for us, as South Africans? and Kusile (which means “the dawn has come”). It’s an election that should have taken Migration for skilled professionals is However, both have failed to live up to the meaning place months ago, but had been consistently the obvious one. South Africans have been of their names. delayed by opposition parties. moving to the UK in numbers for years Design flaws, mismanagement and corruption Why the delay? Astonishingly, the oppo- now. have resulted in Medupi and Kusile being regarded as sition feared an election would have given This will probably accelerate under a the worst performing power stations in the country. a majority to Boris Johnson’s Conservative BRITAIN’S Prime Minister Boris Johnson uses a sewing machine as he visits John Smedley Mill in Matlock, Johnson government. This despite their hefty price tag – R234 billion for Party. This in turn would allow Johnson to Derbyshire, Britain, last week. | HANNAH MCKAY Reuters Up until the EU came along, the UK Medupi and R118bn for Kusile. swiftly exit the EU. offered a Commonwealth Working Holiday And so, load shedding has become the new nor- Now, if the polls are correct, Johnson is visa programme. This meant that South Afri- mal. It started as Stage 2. It moved to Stage 4. And, on track for victory. His election rallying call works on the assumption that goods, services, Effectively, the UK contributed £8.9bn to cans between the ages of 18-30 could apply this week, we experienced Stage 6, although for a “Get Brexit Done” appears to have found technology, and money should move freely the EU last year. to work in the UK for up to two years. short period of time. It meant that almost half of resonance with voters. across borders. If Boris Johnson wins a majority in the It was an amazing opportunity for gener- Eskom’s generating capacity was down. The markets appear to believe it too. The Services, in turn, depend on people. House of Commons this week, he will be free ations of young South Africans but fell away The power utility has already started to plan for British pound has risen to a 31-month high And so the ability of people to move freely to take the UK back along a sovereign path. under EU rules. stages seven and eight. It means they now see this as against the Euro. across borders – migration – is crucial to the But what sort of things are likely to If our political leaders are astute, they will a real possibility. For you and me, it means, in simple But there’s a bigger philosophical element entrenchment of globalisation. change? seize the moment to ask the UK to reinstate terms, no electricity for longer periods of time. to be considered. The UK election is a litmus The EU effectively curtailed the sover- Let’s start with immigration. The EU had the programme. As consumers of electricity we do have options. test for the future of sovereign states after eignty of the UK. Membership of the EU freedom of movement across borders as a What if Johnson loses? Those with money can get off the grid or find decades of globalisation. meant the ability of the UK’s parliament to core principle which allowed all citizens to If that does happen, brace for economic alternative power sources for when load shedding Sovereignty is the ability of a state to pass laws had to play second fiddle to rules move freely between member states and live fallout. is implemented. govern itself and make its own laws and of the European parliament. and work anywhere as if they were nationals What everyone has to accept though, is that policies. That ability gets constrained to But what was irksome for many was that of that country. Srikanthan is one of the names of Vishnu. longer periods without electricity is the new normal some extent by international agreements the UK had to pay a price for its acquiescence This has been great for unemployed Poles Another name for Vishnu is Jagannath, for the next five to 10 years. such as the rules of the World Trade Organ- to EU rules. Last year, the UK paid about who found employment as domestic workers “the unstoppable force”, which gives us the Our president has already accepted this new nor- isation, but by and large, governments are £13.2 billion to the EU in exchange for in the UK. modern word juggernaut. Pillay writes about mal. He has left for an official visit to Egypt despite able to do as they wish within their around £4.3bn of funding for agricultural, It was not so good for unskilled UK understanding the unstoppable forces which the many challenges our country currently faces. own borders. social, economic development and compet- nationals losing jobs to migrants. shape our lives in technology, commerce, Globalisation goes against that grain. It itiveness programmes. If Johnson wins, he promises to enforce science and society. The Quote Gandhi Library was steeped in history Realise that if a door closed, it’s vernacular newspapers from India and one because what was behind it wasn’t or two titles in English which would catch my attention. meant for you. To encourage women to use the library MANDY HALE – especially from the conservative Muslim www.purposefairy.com and Gujarati communities settled in the city – it was decided in 1931 that between 3pm and 5pm on Fridays, the library would YOGIN DEVAN be reserved for the exclusive use by the fairer sex. The gender reservation programme was GROWING up, there was little need to visit apparently not very successful. the library – our house was full of books. Among the prominent visitors to the My father was a voracious reader. He read library were Sir Srinivasa Sastri, Sir Sarvepalli on matters pertaining to education when he Radhakrishnan and George Bernard Shaw. was studying for his university degrees.
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