When it comes to the power crisis, Eskom’s cheek knows no bounds

After a rather grim state of the system briefing by Eskom last week, in which South Africans were told to prepare for a winter without power, the Dark Lords at Megawatt Park took it a step further, asking consumers to delay starting up their inverters and power backups. *bangs head against a wall.

This is the moment in the briefing you realise Eskom is unreservedly and unabashedly taking us for p**s.

This is the message from the same board that hung its former CEO, André de Ruyter, out to dry for daring to tell his side of the story.

At least De Ruyter had the cahoonas to tell us: “Sorry South Africa, but this is why I failed”.

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Where is your outrage about the Eskom cartels?

I am yet to hear anything constructive come from the board about the criminal cartels holding the power utility to ransom, apart from being angry that its former CEO-turned-whistleblower.

And in true South African leadership style, Eskom Board Chair Mpho Makwana went on the defensive, expressing unhappiness over a book about Eskom’s corruption rather than the criminal activity itself. *Why does God hate us?

It is at moments like these that I wonder about the material and moral fibre of the Eskom board. Their handling of De Ruyter speaks to a lack of moral fibre, but it also tells me that combined, they don’t have enough grey matter to fill half a smartie.

ALSO READ: Delay using your inverter – Eskom

Are the criminals looting Eskom making any sacrifices for the grid?

Did they even bother to ask the cartels to take a break from looting the parastatal so it could survive through winter? Or do the criminals essentially have them by the short and curlies? And they got rid of the only person trying to indict the criminal behaviour?

Is that why there is an unwavering expectation for the end-user consumer to shoulder all the burdens for this rotten failure?

I mean, we must delay attempts to recoup from the power rationing that lasts for days on end, not hours. We wish it were hours.

Did anyone make a plea to the hungry ministers eating at the expense of Eskom to go on a diet? As much as R1 billion a month is siphoned from powerless parastatal a month; surely they have looted enough to give the golden unicorn a break even if it is temporary.

Did Makwena even call the ANC to ask politicians to delay their stealing for the sake of the grid?

Stop asking citizens to help solve a self-made power supply crisis. We have already done our bit and made our sacrifices. Go negotiate with the people with real power in Luthuli House and the criminal cartels raping and pillaging the power utility on your watch.

NOW READ: Seven takeaways from André de Ruyter’s book