Lights out for daylight saving

Giving a written reply to another question, this time from Lance Greyling of the Independent Democrats, the minister said on Monday that the department was not investigating it.

"Studies conducted as far back in the 1980s by CSIR (the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research) and more recently Eskom, conclude that there will not be any significant impact on the energy consumption, either in the reduction on the peak demand or reduction on the base-load power stations, as a result of introduction of daylight savings," she said. "The available evidence from the two studies are conclusive on the fact that South Africa will not gain from the introduction of daylight saving."

The minister, however gives rather more detail in a background paper attached to her answer. In it she says that there is no conclusive empirical evidence applicable to the South African context.

But it can be argued that based on the balance of probabilities, there is a dichotomy between the benefits of DST for people residing in the east of the country, and the inconvenience suffered by people in the west of the country. "Because of the width of the country and the fact that the 30 degrees meridian is well towards the east, all of the country west of the 30 degrees meridian by default already enjoys a degree of DST," she said.

The east-west difference is the most important political reason why the various attempts at introducing DST over the previous century have failed in South Africa.

Latitude is important, the background paper adds. The DST advantages documented for Europe and the US, which are situated further from the equator, have limited applicability to South Africa.

"The advantages of DST are also linked to socioeconomic circumstances," the paper argues. "Generally: a more affluent person with own transport living in the east of country and close to his/her place of work, and with the financial resources to unlock outdoor recreational opportunities, has the most to gain from DST."

Benefits speculative

Discussing the impact on the quality of life, the minister's background paper says that with respect to crime reduction, road safety and tourism, the arguments in favour of DST are speculative.

"The convenience of someone in the east of the country will be offset by the inconvenience of commuters without own transport in the east and west of the country who would then have to travel to work and school before sunrise," it says. "Any improvement in the 'crime-after-dark' or 'traffic accidents-after dark' trends may well be off-set by the increase in the 'crime-before-sunrise' or 'traffic accident-before-sunrise' trends. In terms of tourism spending, it is possible that it will simply be the category of spending, and not the total amount of spending, that changes due to DST."

The minister says that there has not been any costing done of the implementation of DST, that there are communication challenges in a developing country with a large illiterate population without access to modern communication means, the rescheduling of transport systems, the re-programming of computer-controlled traffic lights and of computer-linked business transactions.

In the regional context, uniformity with southern African neighbours will also be a political and practical challenge, e.g. linkages between the banking sectors, the operating hours of border posts, etc.

- I-Net Bridge