Expect more load-shedding and a load more lies for Christmas
As the government eagerly accepted a “gift” of hundreds of petrol-powered generators from China this week, South Africans can be forgiven for dwelling in despair at our new status as a basket case dependent on the charity of others. How did we fall so far, so fast? Electricity minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa has been especially upbeat about the Chinese handouts, which will potentially help keep the lights on at schools, police stations and hospitals. In the fanfare, some may have forgotten that this endeavour was the outcome of a court order that resulted from the litigation efforts of opposition political parties, and which was reaffirmed this week.
Hopes that Eskom would be “turned around” to the extent that Chinese charity would no longer be necessary will have been dashed in the past few days. In that period, South Africa moved from stage 2 load-shedding to stage 6 quicker than one could say “Did we remember to buy candles this week?”
It is common cause that load-shedding is mortally wounding the South African economy, with Transnet complementing the injuries as a disaster unfolds at our ports and on our roads. Yet, though Eskom itself constantly produces reports on the dire state of our electricity-generation capacity, the politicians in the ruling party cannot resist the temptation to do what politicians do, which is make unrealistic promises in the hope that at least some of the people can be fooled some of the time. It is one thing to live in a twilight zone imposed on us by the years of mismanagement and corruption that have brought what was once a world-leading power utility to its knees. It compounds the injury when political promises leave us feeling we are being treated as fools.
Take the promises by ANC secretary-general Fikile
Mbalula. In May this year, he told the ANC Veterans’
League: “What I know from where I’m seated, from the work that’s been done by government and ministers and so on, the load-shedding before the end of the year should have been something of the past. I can assure you that load-shedding will be reversed and it will be dealt with decisively.” In September, President Cyril
Ramaphosa said: “We are confident that by working together we will end load-shedding, fix our logistics system and tackle crime and corruption.”
Similar promises and upbeat prognostications have been forthcoming from public enterprises minister
Pravin Gordhan, energy minister Gwede Mantashe and
Deputy President Paul Mashatile.
While he was CEO at Eskom, André de Ruyter provided a handy target for ministers to blame, with Mantashe going so far as to accuse him of trying to overthrow the government. A chorus of indignation greeted De Ruyter’s claim on TV that ministers were involved in corruption at Eskom. His departure prompted claims that he had not busied himself enough with actually running Eskom, and was acting as “policeman” instead.
Fast-forward almost a year and Eskom appears little closer to appointing a CEO who could be given the political space by Luthuli House to make a difference, operating without meddling by people who know little to nothing about running a modern power utility. A CEO candidate put forward by the board was rejected by Gordhan, on the basis that older people should also be in the running for the job. Since then, the board chair has quit, and the process to bring in a new CEO has for all practical purposes stalled.
The splitting of Eskom into three units has begun, but the reluctance especially in the utility’s generation division to accommodate the private sector appears to have stymied the much-needed move to private sector involvement.
Though there was a period in 2023 in which load-shedding was indeed reduced, it now transpires that Eskom has blown most of its diesel budget on keeping the lights on.
As South Africans who can afford it move to alternative energy sources such as solar, and those who can’t get by as best they can, we now face another festive season characterised by blackouts and, presumably, more fibbery.
South Africans deserve better than the shabby rationalisations offered by politicians whose interest seems to be in retaining their jobs by whatever means possible, including misleading the public.
It now transpires that Eskom has blown most of its diesel budget