RapportACTIVITE 2002 - association des societes d'electricite d ...

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President’s remarks
Mr THULANI S. GCABASHE, President of UPDEA
The year 2002 has been for the UPDEA, an exceptional year in terms of redefinition of its
mission as well as prospects and achievements. Indeed, at its inception in 1970, UPDEA
was founded with the intent of providing support and assistance to members by promoting
the regional integration of members’ activities in various fields for mutual benefit. In recent
times however, with the advent of globalisation and deregulation of the electricity supply
industry, international boundaries ceased to be barriers of trade, and changes in ownership
structure of utilities introduced private sector partnerships. This marked the era of
Liberalisation.
Simultaneously, the African Union brought into being the New Partnership for Africa’s
Development (NEPAD), which by its very nature poses a challenge to UPDEA to contribute
to its activities. As these developments and others continued to unfold, it became clear that
UPDEA had to visualise a new role for itself that would transform it from an inwardly
focussed organisation to a development orientated institution that will be relevant to the
challenges of today Change was therefore inevitable and imminent.
The process of developing a new strategic direction and thereby transforming UPDEA began
in early 2002 when we resolved to craft a future role for UPDEA. It culminated in the
milestone 14 th UPDEA Congress in the middle of 2002 where a new vision for UPDEA was
inaugurated, namely, UPDEA will be the primary catalyst in the realisation of access to
electricity for all the peoples of Africa.
As a consequence of this work, the purpose of UPDEA is therefore no longer limited to the
promotion and integration of the African power sector through active cooperation among
members. It also extends to participation in the development of the power sector in
conjunction with regional, continental and international players, hence the manifestly close
relationship with PIESA.
The 6 key objectives that subtend the new UPDEA vision and therefore characterise the
transformed UPDEA of today are:
• A promoter and facilitator of integration and regional exchanges, particularly through the
power pools in Africa.
• A facilitator of access to energy, and to electricity in particular, by all the peoples of
Africa.
• A preferred interlocutor of the African public institutions, eg, NEPAD, ADB, AU, AFREC,
etc, and a leading voice of the African power sector at international level.
• A centre for information, documentation, strategy and analysis of the African power
sector.
• A point of identification, convergence and management of common problems
experienced by members.