Eskom’s Makwana thinks he can serve his customers fantasies

It’s no surprise, given the marketing and advertising background of Eskom chair Mpho Makwana, that he thinks he can serve his customers fantasies.

This week, as he worked from his non-load shed office or from his generator-equipped home, he said South Africans should “celebrate” stage 2 and 3 load shedding, rather than griping about stage 7 or 8.

Your prison window has bars … but, look! They are all perfectly round! And a nice ray of light enters for 20 minutes each day!

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The idiocy of that beggars belief – but it is worrying because it is a short step from that sort of nonsense to blaming consumers, a “Third Force” or even Jan van Riebeeck for the fact we can’t keep the lights on.

Anything but the truth, Cde Makwana – which is that the ANC stole us into this blind, black hole. Even as he spoke, Makwana’s organisation was spending huge chunks of money on adverts on various platforms urging electricity users to cut down their consumption.

Take shorter showers, don’t leave appliances on “standby”. Switch off the lights as soon as you leave the room. We know where that leads: to Eskom bleating it has lost revenue and needs to hike tariffs. That’s something to celebrate.

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