New Eskom board won’t solve power crisis

Finally, it seems, a light has gone on – lucky him – in the mind of Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan. In his very comfortable, well-guarded and permanently electrified government house, Gordhan has realised something needs to be done about Eskom.

And so, he has decided to fire the current board of directors of the parastatal and find replacements. Someone should tell him that doing that is like replacing the tyres on a car when it has a seized engine.

Eskom’s problems cannot be solved by new directors – just as Titanic’s could not have been by rearranging its deckchairs. Central government needs to take firm control of the situation – by declaring a national state of disaster if necessary (and the power utility certain is a national disaster).

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If Eskom is overstaffed, employee numbers need to be slashed and productivity increased. Incompetence, sabotage and corruption need to be rooted out ruthlessly.

People not paying for their electricity need to be cut off and electricity thieves need to be rounded up and jailed.

Mind you, there will be a line of cadres waiting for the cushy Eskom board assignment: little work, fat at- tendance pay and best of all, power to the area you live unlikely to be cut.