‘Eskom used as political battleground in ANC’ – Analyst

The embattled power utility Eskom has been used as a political battleground within the governing African National Congress (ANC), according to political analyst Dr Ntsikelelo Breakfast.

This comes as South Africa continues to bear the brunt of relentless rolling blackouts, thanks to load shedding.

Power (and power) struggle in SA

Electrical struggle

The country is now experiencing Stage 6 rolling blackout, for the fifth consecutive day with no end in sight.

Eskom last week said this stage in question will remain implemented until further notice, due to severe capacity constraints.

ALSO READ: Eskom imposes stage 6 load shedding until further notice

Political power struggle

Speaking to The Citizen, Breakfast said differences between some ANC leaders are not helping the situation.

“Since 2018 promises were made about Independent Power Producers (IPPs) but not all ministers have been speaking the same language”, Breakfast said.

He explained: “On the one hand, you have Gwede Mantashe arguing for coal while another minister, Pravin Gordhan, is speaking renewables.”

Meanwhile, in Davos…

Breakfast says he also does not understand why government leaders would be at the World Economic Forum in Davos in a bid to promote and sell a country which finds itself in a very dire situation.

The meeting seeks to discuss global economic issues with the overall aim of positioning countries as competitive business destinations.

The SA Delegation will be led by President Cyril Ramaphosa and will include ministers Enoch Godongwana, Naledi Pandor, Ebrahim Patel and Mmamoloko Kubayi.

“You have a government and party that speaks different languages because there are those who see IPPs as another form of privatization.

“At the same time, an ANC company was appointed to be a service provider for the building of new power stations and we all know what has happened to some of those new power stations,” said Breakfast.

ALSO READ: WEF Davos: SA will have to showcase it’s worth investing in despite energy crisis

Elections at stake

Breakfast warned the ANC runs the risk of losing power in 2024 if the electricity crisis continues unabated.

Commenting on issues of sabotage at some of Eskom’s power stations, Breakfast said there are some within the ANC who don’t want him to succeed in turning around Eskom’s dire situation.

“Eskom has been used as a political battleground and it doesn’t matter who’s the CEO; if the CEO doesn’t have a buy-in from everyone, then nothing will be fixed,” said Breakfast.

Dark year ahead for SA

Another political analyst Prof. Andre Duvenhage warned of a dark year ahead for South Africans.

According to Duvenhage, the crisis with regard to the provision of electricity in the country has completely run out of control, to the extent that it is going to be difficult to manage the economy in a proper way.

“We have a completely dysfunctional Eskom as a result of corruption, mismanagement and political interference.

“To take it a step further, crime syndicates controlling and stealing what is left of Eskom at the expense of the ordinary taxpayer,” said Duvenhage.

ANC canvassing for votes

Duvenhage said government was fast running into a phase where they urgently need votes to obtain an absolute majority in 2024.

“If we look at the Andre de Ruyter episode, de Ruyter decided to leave Eskom not because he believes he didn’t contribute enough but because there was a complete lack of political will to act on behalf of Eskom, to act against the crime syndicate and here I include Cyril Ramaphosa, Gwede Mantashe, Pravin Gordhan and all the others.

“What is absolutely clear to me is that there are politically vested interests that are very sensitive and my projection for the future is that 2023 is going to be a very dark year and I am not seeing the political will to bring about the changes necessary,” Duvenhage added.