On the brink of the Zimbabwe-Zambia Energy Projects Summit, Dr Snowy Khoza, the internationally acclaimed pioneer, business leader, and human rights activist, spoke to EnergyNet. 

You are a passionate advocate for energy access. What fuels this passion?  

My passion and advocacy come from where I came from.

I was born in apartheid South Africa, in a township called Hammanskraal, north of Pretoria, where there was no electricity. 

We had to go out to fetch wood in the bush. We used tin stoves (mbaola) made from paint cans, to boil water or cook meals.  We had no conventional stoves, not even the coal stoves that some of the better-off households had.

We were very poor.

I went to school, where there was no electricity either.   If there were projects that needed electricity, we couldn't do them.

At home, we used gasoline-type lights and candles.

And at night, the whole township was very scary, because it was very dark.  

After growing up in that environment, and as soon as I qualified as a social worker, I started working in very deep, rural communities. My passion was to improve people’s quality of life and to help lighten their load in life.

I realized that this could be done though basic infrastructure provision – energy, roads, water and sanitation for example.  

Growing up back then, we did not have water either – we fetched water from the crocodile-infested Apies River. There was no sanitation or flushing toilets - we used pit latrines. We walked on gravel roads to go to school as there were no tarred roads nor buses to transport us around.    

It was hard, and as a social worker going into very deep rural communities, I saw the plight was even worse than in the townships.

This really drove me and created this development activism in me.

People’s lives can be improved through infrastructure development – and one key infrastructure is energy.

Women are still going out to fetch wood in the rural communities even today to be able to cook. Most rural communities don't have streetlights. They don't even have lights in their homes. There's no electrification at all.

It’s hard for many of us to imagine community schools, hospitals, and clinics with no electricity, after many years of democracy in different countries and nearly 31 years of democracy in South Africa, for example.

I was the Group CEO of the Bigen Group, an infrastructure development company working in many African countries. I also worked as a Group Executive at the Development Bank of Southern Africa.

I have been in many countries on the continent and as it is in South Africa, in many other countries on the continent of Africa, the majority of rural communities still, even today, have no access to energy, in particular, electricity.

If they do, it is not reliable and is expensive.

Six hundred million people across Africa still lack access to reliable and affordable energy or to electricity. Globally, over a billion people, mostly in developing countries, live without electricity.

For me, the need for accessible, reliable, affordable and sustainable electricity for communities, whether urban or rural, is key.

 And that's what drives me because I have lived that.

I experienced energy poverty as a young person, a worker, a social worker, a CEO, and even today, in my retirement, with the work I do to attract investments in energy in Africa, it’s the same challenge, the same issue, the same problem.

We need to see a difference.

 

What are your thoughts on the role of the private sector and unlocking opportunities for projects – especially in the face of drought and low levels of electrification in both Zimbabwe and Zambia?  

Zimbabwe and Zambia are facing enormous energy challenges due to drought, and the private sector has an essential role in shaping a sustainable energy future for both countries.

Sustainable solutions will not only improve people’s quality of life but also stimulate economic growth.  

The projects don’t have to be huge.  

As my grandmother used to say: When facing a mountain, it doesn’t help to try and push it with all your strength or might. Instead, start by picking up small stones, one by one, and soon you’ll begin to move the mountain.

Even smaller projects in these two countries will make a difference.

And, these smaller projects will lead to larger projects.

Both countries need to make sure that their subsidies and tax incentive policies make it easier for the private sector to do business.

In return, the private sector needs to understand that the protocols, policies, regulations, and governance frameworks in those countries need to be followed and respected.  

At times, the private sector has to take responsible risks, be bold, and be ready to make a difference.

We cannot simply wait for governments to take the first step; we need to bring our technical expertise to the table and contribute to creating an environment conducive to attracting further investments.

Partnering with the public sector across the full value chain is also critical.  

The private sector brings valuable insight in terms of understanding the journey of decarbonisation, diversification of the economy, and digitalization, which is critical for both countries.

So, my call to the private sector is yes, the investment environment of the two countries might not be fully ready.

But it's important for us, as the private sector, to offer solutions and make proposals to improve it as well.

 

Regional cooperation can be key to be when it comes to infrastructure and the energy sector.  What qualities do you think underpin successful partnerships, in any sector?  

The summit brings Zimbabwe and Zambia together to discuss the importance of reactivating the energy sector in the two countries, so bilateral cooperation is key.

For me, there are four critical qualities that drive a successful partnership.  

The first is transparency and open communication.

It is important for countries to communicate, not just at the political level, but also at the bureaucratic level, so that senior officials of government understand the commitment that has been made by the politicians.

Sometimes you find that there's no transparency in terms of what politicians have agreed on.

For example, Presidents meet, they speak, agree on terms and may sign MoUs without clearly thinking through some of the implications and implementation issues of their agreements.

The bureaucrats and senior officials of governments need to be part of the discussions held by the politicians, in order to be able to translate those commitments and make sure they are implementable.    

When you are transparent and have open communication, you build trust and credibility. 

When difficult issues arise the two countries should be able to sit at the table, openly discuss the challenges affecting them, and find better solutions to resolve those challenges within the binational or SADC protocols.

 The second is accessibility.  

Signing agreements or MoUs is the first step, but implementation is key and you need to have the right teams at the table.

The teams from both countries have to be accessible to be able to meet, discuss openly, and work together.

If they find they have agreed on something that’s not working, they can be flexible and accessible enough to find a different or workable solution.

Also, environment should allow even the heads of states to be easily accessible to assist where required.

 The third is mutual benefits. 

It's important to have people who not only have an interest in the improvement of the quality of life for people in their countries, but also who think in terms of growing the economy of their countries and region and for the benefit of all.

With mutual benefits, shared success and shared futures have no spirit of competition but of cooperation for the benefit of everyone.

Where there is cooperation, alliancing and partnership, officials can co-create things together and even create a better competitive edge that equally benefit both parties.

So, even in investing, co-investing should be the norm as there is space for every relevant partner to participate.

The last one for me is measurable results.

It is one thing to commit, and to sign agreements that are splashed all over the media, but there needs to be implementation with results and impact.

Partners must incorporate key impact outcomes into their agreements.

This means agreeing on key performance indicators (KPIs), where both parties agree on what needs to be delivered, by whom and by when, even to the point of when they will next meet.

Otherwise, how are they going to see that this cooperation or partnership is working?

The KPIs need to be very clear and measurable.

 It will be easy to see that there's growth in the economy once those things are done.

These are the four qualities that I truly believe underpin a successful partnership.

 

The International Energy Agency reported last year that, despite making up nearly 40% of the global workforce, only 16% of traditional energy sector employees are women.  As a champion of gender empowerment, what are your thoughts?

This is very important to me. I've advocated for female empowerment in all the countries that I have worked in.

The energy sector is particularly male-dominated.

Often, women who would like to participate in it are not in the executive echelons.

The majority are in lower categories of employment, and some of them are not earning as much as they would in other sectors.

 What is very sad is that the lack of access to energy, affects women and children disproportionately.  

As I said earlier on, women and children are the ones who must go out and fetch wood in most societies.

And that, for me, is why women should be represented across the entire energy sector value chain.

I'm so proud of EnergyNet.  

The majority of people I speak to are women.

You have done your best to get women represented on the Summit agenda.

But I would still be surprised if more than 50 women were among the delegates at the Summit.

It's a challenge, and it's important for women to participate.

I'm thankful to your company for driving this forward.

 

You have said that the youth are the torch beam of the energy transition.  What is your advice to young people today in Zimbabwe and Zambia (and across the continent)?

Education is a key to the future.

Young people will drive the sustainable energy transition I believe and they need education.

Our children must be educated in sectors that will help drive energy access, affordability and sustainability.

Young people use technology far more than previous generations.  

Social media could be used in such a way that it contributes to resolving some of the challenges faced by the energy sector.

Young people need to be able to influence their peers, build their consciousness about the challenges of the energy sector, and help find technological and digital solutions.

The challenge to the youth is:  how are you using your social media to improve your quality of life and that of others?  

Young people should also ask leaders in their countries on - how do we ensure that the energy sector contributes more to bettering our lives? 

For example, Youth unemployment across the continent is a huge challenge.

How do we encourage young people to help us resolve this challenge?

We need to create opportunities for young entrepreneurs in the energy sector value chain, so they can start their own businesses that will, in turn, contribute to improving the energy sector challenges and grow the economy.

Plus, the young people of both countries could create a youth group for a sustainable energy future, where they can share their fresh perspectives, advocate for change, and think about creating platforms that will contribute to finding solutions.

 

What are you most looking forward to, and what would you most like to see come out of the summit?

I'm looking forward to a successful summit where opportunities will be created, projects will be put on the table and where investors will show their commitment to Zimbabwe and Zambia in improving the quality of lives of people and grow their economies through energy initiatives.

 

Dr Snowy Khosa will be speaking in the session Grid Expansion, Liberalisation and Security, and moderating the session Addressing Opportunities Head On – Recognising the Need for Private Sector Focused Policies to Get Projects Over the Line, at the Zimbabwe-Zambia Energy Projects Summit, taking place 18 - 20 November 2024, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe