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Free basic electricity would reduce poverty and inequality

The Electricity for All campaign has been held in the run-up to the municipal elections

The Electricity for All campaign calls on government to provide 350kWh per month of free electricity for indigent households. Archive photo: Brent Meersman
Universal access to electricity may be the most powerful tool for tackling poverty and inequality in South Africa, Dr Tracy Ledger and Mahlatse Rampedi of the Public Affairs Research Institute (PARI) argue in their 2022 book, “Hungry for Electricity”.
“It can increase quality of life, create new employment opportunities, support small enterprises and reduce food insecurity,” PARI’s website states.
Government’s existing Free Basic Electricity (FBE) programme provides a 50kWh allowance to indigent households. But that amount is widely considered insufficient to meet basic household needs. Uptake of FBE has also been low: only about two million of…

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  2. Fun South African Fact: Three different destinations make up South Africa’s capital cities. This is to represent the South African government being divided into three sections. Cape Town is the legislative capital, Pretoria is the administrative capital and Bloemfontein is the judicial capital. Interestingly, Parliament meetings take place for six months in Cape Town and six months in Pretoria.