ANC agenda on Eskom finally starting to show up

The ANC and its apologists have been lining up to have a go at Eskom board member Busisiwe Mavuso, after she walked out of a parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) meeting when she was accused of theatrics after blaming the governing party for the mess which is Eskom.

Before walking out, Mavuso – who refuses to apologise for what she said (perhaps because it is absolutely true) – commented that it appeared to her as though the committee was trying to shift blame for load shedding onto the board and CEO André de Ruyter.

She later made the point that the new board could not be held accountable for previous actions by ANC deployees to Eskom, nor for the corruption and thieving which has brought the organisation to its knees.

ALSO READ: ‘Badge of honour’: Eskom’s Busisiwe Mavuso stands by her decision to walk out of Scopa meeting

Those who attacked Mavuso claimed De Ruyter and the new board had violated the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) on numerous occasions.

However, energy expert Clyde Mallinson told us that the power utility was hamstrung by the fact that it was unable to take charge of its procurement requirements, because these had to be routed through the department of mineral resources and energy, which was stalling.

He said that, in some cases, the bureaucracy by the department led to Eskom having to breach the PFMA simply to get things done quickly.

Mavuso, who heads Business Leadership SA, would know about these government-imposed restraints on Eskom and about the decades of incompetence and theft which has led to continued damaging load shedding.

Clearly, she was as frustrated as we are by load shedding and the accusation that the Eskom board and De Ruyter are somehow to blame.

The agenda of the ANC seems to be emerging here: claim to be cleaning up corruption but actually divert blame away from the party and on to Eskom’s new team.