At a media briefing at which Minister of Public Enterprises Pravin Gordhan unveiled government’s highly anticipated Special Paper on Eskom, the minister tried to manage the nation’s expectations as far as how long it will take to fix the struggling energy utility.
“There is a belief among South Africans that fixing Eskom is like changing a tyre in a car or replacing a bolt in a boiler. We see the fixing of Eskom as a long protracted process,” he said.
The minister added that he hoped Eskom’s new CEO would be announced soon, and perhaps as early as Wednesday.
“The board has done its work, and a recommendation has been made. We are going through a government process,” he said, before saying the announcement would “hopefully” take place tomorrow.
Eskom’s chairperson, Jabu Mabuza, is currently also functioning as the utility’s acting CEO, a decision that has been criticised by the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) as well as unions including the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa).
Gordhan introduced his new paper by explaining that it details the future of Eskom, and that while some of this can take place “rapidly”, much of it will take place in a “slow, systematic and disciplined way”.
He stressed that the document signifies “the beginning of the process, not the process in its entirety”.
He also attempted to distance himself from taking sole responsibility for the plan. “It’s not Gordhan’s plan, many of you like to personalise these things,” he said.
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Regardless of whether it’s Gordhan’s plan or government’s as a whole, the minister said it’s ” clear that Eskom cannot remain as it is,” and that changing it will require the “participation of all stakeholders.”
Gordhan discussed how the transmission component will be separated as a functional subsidiary of Eskom holdings, as per President Cyril Ramaphosa’s plan to unbundle the state-owned-enterprise, announced during the state of the nation address in February.
The minister says the creation of “clusters” within the generational component of Eskom will allow “internal competition” and give consumers an opportunity to choose, in what appears to be an attempt to lessen the monopoly the government-owned entity has over South African power production, without resorting to privatisation.
