Eskom not another cow to be milked

Eskom’s gift to the long-suffering people of South Africa, is the reduced possibility of load shedding over Christmas and New Year.

However, the overall picture for the next three months is what the organisation calls “red” – so serious in terms of demand possibility exceeding generation capacity that power cuts will be unavoidable. With all the bad news which has rained down on us in 2020, the latest position at Eskom might have just been met with a resigned shrug of the shoulders from many.

But, now insult has been added to the injury of load shedding.

The Sunday Times reported yesterday that Eskom’s acting group executive of legal and compliance, Bartlett Hewu, has allegedly been ducking paying for his home electricity for an astonishing 14 years. Not only that, according to the newspaper he has been allowed to make good the unpaid outstanding amount of almost R250,000, but has not been referred to law enforcement authorities for possible charges of theft.

This is beyond ironic, given that Hewu is the man who is central to Eskom’s moves to recover hundreds of millions of rand looted from it during the years of state capture. The other irony is that Eskom has been adopting a tough attitude to non-payment in recent months, cutting off power to suburbs and municipalities which have high unpaid bills.

It sounds a bit like the poacher becoming gamekeeper but continuing to poach to keep his hand in. However, the Hewu allegations do show that Eskom – which, in the words of President Cyril Ramaphosa, is “too big to be allowed to fail” – is regarded by many, both inside and outside its ranks, as yet another cow to be milked.

As a country, and as a people, we have to shed that notion if we are to achieve true power and glory.

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