Powerball stands on R36m this evening, I hope Eskom bought a ticket

I wasn’t surprised when André de Ruyter “exposed” corruption in Eskom this week. I don’t think many South Africans were.

We have always suspected that extreme corruption, accompanied by incompetence and lack of maintenance, are the premier culprits when it comes to load shedding.

What did make me sit upright, however, was Eskom’s warning that we could be facing stage eight load shedding. Until now, Eskom had a glass half-full approach to the load shedding problem. Not any more, it seems. They are firmly in the camp of the biggest pessimists I know.

“You think you’re battling with load shedding? Wait, we’ll see how bad things can be.”

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I was also surprised by the budget speech announcement that taxpayers can claim back a quarter of the money paid for solar panels. It’s not as if Treasury is buried under all the tax money that comes in – so to forfeit 25% of the money South Africans spend on solar panels may take a substantial bite out of government’s income.

Those two points, read together, mean only one thing to me: government and Eskom have little hope of resolving our power problems. They have given up.

“Things are only going to get worse… rather get solar – we’ll even make it easier for you.”

ALSO READ: André de Ruyter leaves Eskom with immediate effect

Chances are that I’m misinterpreting the message. According to Snapdragon, I do it all the time.

There are terrible people in this country: thieves and Blue Bulls supporters and HR practitioners and politicians who milk the taxpaying public dry. But most of us are merely people who believe in doing the right thing, who try to make a decent living. In short, good people who deserve better.

It doesn’t seem impossible to solve the problem. Eskom doesn’t have acceptable coal, while we export tons of good coal. We send a lot of electricity to neighbouring countries… charity begins at home. There are decommissioned coal-burning power stations… de-decommission them.

WATCH: Eskom a ‘feeding trough’ for ANC – De Ruyter

I’m sure De Ruyter’s successor will think of these solutions. If he can just get support from Uncle Cyril. He could even dig into his couch to buy Eskom some diesel. If not, Powerball stands on R36 million this evening. I hope Eskom bought a ticket.