Govt, Eskom take beating at Ruth First Lecture

For the past seven years, the Ruth First Lecture has become an exciting intellectual platform drawing large crowds intent to hear burning social issues being debated - issues that were close to First's heart. First was a feminist, editor, scholar, political activist, wife of former minister of housing Joe Slovo and an incredibly productive investigative journalist, who could produce 15 stories a week - many of them about the exploitation of black workers.

She was assassinated by the apartheid regime, which sent her a parcel bomb to her office at the University in Maputo, Mozambique, on 17 August 1982.

The Ruth First Lecture also showcases the work of those who are awarded the Fellowships, given annually to encourage critical, independent and socially engaged journalism in the tradition of Ruth First. Previous Fellows include Pregs Govender (2004), Henk Rossouw (2005), Pumla Dineo Gqola and Nadine Hutton (2006), and Leonie Joubert and Santu Mofokeng (2007).

Power and powerlessness

In her speech titled ‘Power and Powerlessness', Joffe said, “The Government told Eskom to build in 2004. But it didn't accompany that with the changes to policy, regulatory or governance frameworks to support that decision and ensure the system could be managed through some tough years.

“The forecasts said tough years would come: yet there was no sense of crisis, nor the capacity and leadership within the Government [Thabo Mbeki and his ministers] to respond as the risks mounted. It took a crisis to provide the catalyst for action, to start breaking some of the policy deadlocks.”

She said that even though partnerships have been formed to try to boost supply, it is not clear if any of this is enough to prevent renewed load-shedding this summer, or in the next few years.

“The danger is that SA could overinvest in power again and commit in long-term investments it may not be able to afford and may not ultimately need. The potential for high-level corruption when contracts are being signed at this level is enormous. The danger is that the nuclear programme could become SA's next arms deal.”

Peek, a founder of groundWork, Friends of the Earth, an environmental justice and human rights NGO based in Pietermaritzburg, said that it is time that citizens start challenging how Government and Eskom decide the nation's energy future.

“We need to take a stand and build movements, where academics will join forces with NGOs to take strong action.” Peek criticised SA's climate change policy for its strong industrial lobby and a weak input from NGOs.

Thought-provoking photographs

Another 2008 Ruth Fellow and winner of the 2008 Mondi Shanduka Newspaper award, The Times photographer Alon Skuy, exhibited his work ‘Power and Powerlessness - Inside the Bridge', which comprises 26 emotional and thought-provoking photographs depicting life on the ‘other side of the world'.

‘Inside the Bridge' is the culmination of six weeks Skuy spent living with a community of people who live inside a Johannesburg concrete highway bridge. These photographs showcase the daily lives of a community that calls a kilometre of darkness without access to water and electricity its home.

•The Ruth First Lecture is organised under the auspices of Wits University's Investigative Journalism Workshop and run in conjunction with the Ruth First Trust in London, the Heinrich Boll Foundation and the African Studies Journal.