Speech
Cyril Ramaphosa  ·  2026-08-05 07:46

President Ramaphosa Officiates Ummbila Emoyeni Wind Energy Facility Commercial Operations.

And the true measure of the success of this just energy transition is the extent to which it creates opportunities for the people of our country. And I have seen how this is being actualized here. The achievements of this project are therefore very real and very encouraging. I understand that to date more than 1,000 jobs have been created through this project with about half of these jobs going to people living within a 10 kilometer radius of this wind farm. I'm told that more than 18,500 people have registered on the Siri Green Skills Hub where they will be able to access current and future opportunities. The fact that more than 50% of those who have registered are women is a promising sign of the potential that is that this project has been able to drive women's empowerment, economic empowerment. Many of the people who have worked on this project, I'm told, have brought valuable skills that were developed in the mining industry, that were developed in the energy sector and energy sector meaning skills that were developed in ESCOM, our ESCOM. that has enabled those people who worked for ESCOM or were part of ESCOM have now been able to display and execute their skills knowledge in a project like this. This project demonstrates the value of a strong focus on creating meaningful local economic participation and ensuring that surrounding communities benefit directly from this investment.