Pravin Gordhan: Stop calling us thugs, we’re trying to fix Eskom

Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan has called on members of Parliament to stop referring to all ANC members as “criminals” and “thugs”.

He was responding to a heated debate on the country’s energy crisis in Parliament on Thursday.

“Referring to all ANC members as criminals is wrong,” said Gordhan.

“There are many honest, dedicated patriotic South African members of the ANC, just as there are honest members of the DA, EFF, IFP and any other party.

“These are the honest people who want an honest government, who want the state to actually work for the people of this country, and who want corrupt people to end up in orange uniforms.

“Those are the people that all of us should combine with to ensure that we leave behind a country for future generations, that we as this generation can say that we are proud of,” said Gordhan.

Eskom is not broken or dysfunctional

Gordhan assured South Africans that Eskom is not on a trajectory to failure.

“There is no threat of a protracted failure of Eskom because ultimately the Eskom that we know today won’t be the Eskom that you will recognise in 10 years’ time. It will be a completely different Eskom,” promised Gordhan.

He explained that if South Africa could generate an additional 4000-5000MW, it would create the space for the kind of maintenance the older power plants need.

“Let’s be frank, Eskom faces serious challenges, South Africa does not have energy security, while previous boards and administrations caused some of the problems, it is the 2018 ANC government that is fixing it. In time there will be energy security and that will transform Eskom.”

“We take the responsibility for whatever has been done, but we will cure whatever has been done given the time and effort that we will put in,” Gordhan added.

There is a clear plan to sort out root causes at Eskom, although it will take time.

“Like the public, we are also impatient and want to see results and an end to load shedding.

“The process of structural reform will have far-reaching effects, even if it takes time to bear fruit,” explained Gordhan.

He said that while Eskom’s coal fleet is old and deteriorating in performance, it’s not necessarily decrepit.

On energy experts sounding the alarm over impending energy shortages back in 2007, Gordhan admitted there wasn’t a quick enough response from the government.

He then reminded house delegates that the state capture regime of the governing party ensured that competent Eskom officials were driven out of the power giant.

Additionally, Eskom’s debt burden, which stands at some R400 billion, has exacerbated the problem.

Gordhan and Eskom were on the receiving end of scathing criticism from opposition parties who labelled the parastatal as an embarrassing failure, with some MPs calling for Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter and COO Jan Oberholzer to be sacked.

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