Eskom is set up for failure

It has been exactly seven years since the then deputy president, now President Cyril Ramaphosa, has been tasked with solving challenges at Eskom and ending load shedding.

But instead of seeing light at the end of the tunnel of load shedding, the problem is getting worse. With this power crisis, a lot of government interventions and changes of Eskom executives have been implemented, yet the problem still persists.

Radical changes in the parastatal are not taking place and all those who are entrusted with solving load shedding seem to be lax about their responsibility.

This causes one to worry about Eskom not being the issue but the issue being nefarious agendas that want to see Eskom in the hands of the private sector, just like the South African Airways’ 51% shares being sold for R51.

It looks as though Eskom is being sabotaged and set up for failure, for it to be given up for privatisation without public outcry and resistance.

For, if the problem is what they say it is, we probably should be halfway solving it.

If the problem is unskilled management running the state-owned enterprise, why is it hard for heads to roll and be replaced by a fit-for-purpose management? If the problem is the decaying infrastructure, why is it that investment in that area is not prioritised?

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Eskom keeps on piling up debt, but the Cabinet and the board of Eskom seem to be unshaken and continue to use the loans and government guarantees in a futile way. With politics being played with Eskom, the country is plunging into darkness and people are getting impatient.

Concrete solutions are not devised: all we hear from government is that we must prepare for energy transition that will withdraw the use of coal from our energy mix, which forms the livelihoods of many of our communities.

We are also told to allow the private sector to be part of energy distribution, which will only exacerbate the economical inequalities in our country.

As the call to include the private sector in the activities of Eskom intensifies, we are told that electricity prices will be low. But we know that is not true, never in the world has the private sector put people before profits.

We are told that if private sector engages in energy, the monopoly of Eskom will be dissolved for the benefit of more players in the industry. But we know, that is also not true. Those who stand to benefit from this scheme are not small businesses, but government-connected individuals and a few individuals with deep pockets.

With that happening, it only makes sense that the exclusion of the majority and the difference between the haves and have-nots in the industry will continue to be a sad reality that only gets worse.

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We cannot allow ourselves to live in this imposed load shedding norm because Eskom is set for failure. We cannot allow propaganda to destroy the power utility. We need government to allow Eskom to play its developmental role by providing funding to ensure that electricity prices are kept low for poverty-stricken households.

We need government to stop interfering in Eskom and to allow the board to exercise its duties in peace. This will put SA first and shun away from private interests. And again, we need government to employ people who are qualified in eradicating the challenges affecting Eskom.

Once the skilled people are employed, we need a decisive board that will prioritise the building and maintenance of infrastructure in our power stations and be decisive in reducing the debt of Eskom.

Failure to do that and load shedding will continue, businesses will close their doors in numbers, unemployment will increase, investments will disappear, the economy will be in recession, poverty will escalate and South Africa will be mired in unending violent protests.

– Mthembu is News24’s Young Mandela 2022 winner in the leadership category