Does it not seem strange that a few weeks ago Eskom publicly informed the trade unions that it was broke and had no money to give increases and bonuses?
The belligerent trade unions screamed, shouted and marched and Eskom pathetically “folded”.
From having no money, Eskom is now offering a seven per cent increase. If there are no funds how does Eskom manage to offer an increase (an above-inflation increase)?
Easy, it’s not their money. Just pass on to the consumer.
Eskom is classified as a monopoly. Why is the Competition Board not investigating? It doesn’t like monopolies. The latter fined SAA for anti-competitive pricing. Imagine what airfares would cost if SAA was the only airline in SA?
It’s been poorly managed for years (like other state-owned enterprises overloaded with government-appointed cadres). Nersa is essentially irrelevant. They have never asked the hard questions.
Whose fault is it that numerous local authorities owe Eskom billions? That’s the problem with government-appointed minions.
They are clueless about the requirements of running an efficient business. Only three options are now available: write off, negatively impacting on the financial results, demand payment from the authorities or central government coughs up. In all cases, the consumer ends up paying.
The huge electricity increases over the years are a result of serious mismanagement and paying mega bonuses and perks to too many government-appointed managers.
The latter needs to be swiftly dealt with.
If the staff complement is inflated by thousands then make the decision and retrench. If not, then the whole economy is at risk with many more jobs being lost.
