The Tsantsabane Kapa Bokone Women for Change organisation has given the contractors of the Redstone Acwa power plant project seven days in which to respond to demands to empower local women in the area.
THE TSANTSABANE Kapa Bokone Women for Change organisation has given the contractors of the Redstone Acwa power plant project seven days in which to respond to demands to empower local women in the area.
The 100 megawatt Redstone concentrated solar thermal power (CSP) plant, the country’s largest renewable energy project, is located in the Tsantsabane area in the ZF Mgcawu District in the Northern Cape.
A memorandum that was handed over on February 17 stated that despite numerous engagements and public community meetings, dating back to September 2021, there were no attempts to promote local empowerment and to stimulate the local economy.
“The contractor is blatantly ignoring us as Tsantsabane women. Despite all our efforts and proposals that we have submitted in response to the commitments they made, Redstone has not shown any eagerness to implement “
The list of demands includes the inclusion of local women-owned companies, skills development, sustainable enterprise development initiatives and the formation of a partnership with the Tsantsabane resource centre.
The chairperson of Kapa Bokone Women for Change, Jesmien Wapad, said that to date no women-based company or organisation had participated or benefited from the construction phase of the R11 billion project.
“The community has yet to see any tangible local socio-economic spin-offs,” added Wapad.
The memorandum stated that failure to address their grievances would result in the organisation soliciting intervention from the Office of the Premier as well as the Department of Energy and the project’s investors who are based in Dubai.
The human resources manager of Redstone Acwa Power, Pulane Mogoere, said that the project required highly-specialised labour at this stage, where contractors could not be hired locally.
She acknowledged the frustrations raised by Women for Change and pointed out that economic growth would be visible once the project became operational.
Meanwhile, the CEO of Acwa Power and the Redstone CSP plant, Nandu Bula, and his team on Friday informed Northern Cape Premier Dr Zamani Saul and the MEC for Finance, Economic Development and Tourism, Abraham Vosloo, about progress on the plant.
The Northern Cape provincial government stated that collaborative initiatives would be developed to benefit the local and surrounding communities.
“Provincial government is committed to ensuring that the living conditions of communities are improved through public-private partnerships.”
The premier is expected to visit the plant in the near future.
