Broke Eskom funds international event
JOBURG - AS SOUTH Africa's economy reels from the impact of load shedding, it was revealed that Eskom is a sponsor of the World Economic Forum, and the Democratic Alliance had written to Eskom CEO Tshediso Matona, demanding that Eskom cancel its sponsorship of the event taking place next week.
The statement read, “Sponsoring international events that have nothing to do with solving South Africa’s electricity crisis is a completely unjustifiable expense at a time when Eskom is broke and holding out the begging bowl to South Africans to fund their mismanagement. No less than three executives will also be flying out to Davos to represent Eskom. They are Matona, the chairman, and the Group Sustainability Officer.”
The DA also stated that it is complete hypocrisy for Eskom’s CEO to announce that Eskom is on the immediate brink of bankruptcy and its infrastructure is fast collapsing while simultaneously sponsoring a global event in Switzerland.
“Who [is] Eskom trying to fool by playing up to an international audience when in their own backyard they are creating the conditions for an economic shutdown,” the statement read.
Meanwhile, Eskom media spokesperson, Khulu Phasiwe claimed there was no load shedding expected over the weekend. Phasiwe said, “On Saturday the capacity available to meet that evening’s peak demand is 30 437 MW (including open cycle gas turbines) while demand is forecast at 28 212 MW.”
He added that on Sunday the capacity available to meet that evening’s peak demand is 30 789 MW (including open cycle gas turbines) while demand is forecast at 27 832 MW. “We expect demand in electricity to be in line with expectations for this time of the year. We urge customers to reduce their electricity usage throughout the day to help ease pressure on the system. Please note that these are estimates and will likely differ from the actual figures,” Phasiwe said.
