ANC not to blame for Eskom load shedding – Gordhan

Public Enterprises Minister said the new Eskom board will review the management structure of the ailing and practically powerless parastatal.

Gordhan faced a barrage of questions in Parliament on Tuesday from MPs about issues at Eskom and the chronic load shedding experienced for over two weeks now.

He was addressing the portfolio committee in the National Assembly.

The minister was also grilled about the proposed tariff hikes.

De Ruyter must go

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) grilled Gordhan about the continued employment of Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter.

De Ruyter is Eskom’s 13^th CEO in fifteen years, but the incoming board is likely to review his performance after being in the position for three years.

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He said the new board would assess the management of Eskom and the scope of its operations.

“It will also review the current operations of Eskom and make the necessary recommendations in respect of any changes that need to be made.”

No end to load shedding yet

Gordhan also states that African National Congress (ANC) is not to blame and load shedding is not the party’s fault.

“In 1983 under a different government, we had load shedding which led to a decision to build several power stations which were eventually completed in the early 1990s, and are still problematic so not everything is the fault of the ANC.”

He said rolling blackouts stemmed back from the 1980s and the deliberate power cuts would continue for at least another nine to twelve months.

“So, to be frank to the South African public as the government has said repeatedly, we could still have load shedding for another nine to twelve months. We want to limit it to stage 2 load shedding if at all possible.”

“The Eskom management at a power station level need to ensure needs to do more to ensure that those plants are maintained properly, be run efficiently and they minimize the discomfort and the cost for citizens and for businesses as well,” Gordhan said.

Stage 15 load shedding

Meanwhile, De Ruyter said meeting air quality standards would warrant Eskom decommissioning as much as 16GW of its coal-fired power stations immediately, which would exacerbate load shedding to unprecedented stages.

De Ruyter laid out Eskom’s vision for a just energy transition at the Africa Renewables Investment Summit, held in Cape Town on Wednesday.

Eskom’s modelling showed that the decommission of plants could lead to Stage 15 load shedding.

Its coal-fired power stations will have to be decommissioned when they reach the end of their life – some of which will be within the next 15 years.

Eskom spokesperson Sikonathi Mantshantsha told The Citizen de Ruyter was referring to Eskom’s current power stations that the environmental authorities want closed down for not meeting the air quality limitations.

“It’s the 16 000MW of infrastructure that exceeds the emissions limits that Eskom appealed last year. He said if the department had its way and forced Eskom to close those, then we’d have that kind of loadshedding.”

De Ruyter said mechanical equipment has a finite lifespan.

“If we do nothing, it will precipitate significant job losses in the coal value chain,” De Ruyter said.

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