ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa. Picture: Neil McCartney
The failures of Eskom, which have led to another load shedding crisis, cannot be distanced from the ANC, despite the party’s attempts to do exactly that, in the wake of their dismal elections performance.
The governing party has been trying to separate itself from the bout of unexpected breakdowns at Eskom power stations, leading to escalating load shedding across the country, which plagued most of the campaign period leading up to last week’s local government elections, and has been a standard feature in public political discourse after the poll.
Energy sector analyst Sampson Mamphweli said it was ultimately the deployment policies of the ANC, as well as that of the national executive of the country, which influence Eskom operations, and those charged with planning and executing the country’s power supply plans.
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Therefore, attempting to blame Eskom on its own for the party’s poor performance in the local government elections is tantamount to the ANC blaming itself, he adds.
If Eskom’s policies were more influenced by the available scientific and academic knowledge available to the country, rather than political considerations, the path to a clearer solution to the energy crisis would be clearer, added Mamphweli.
South Africa already has access to renewable energy, which is cheaper than power from coal and diesel-fired generators.
Amid accusations that Eskom sabotaged the election campaign of the ANC, President Cyril Ramaphosa moved to unpack the timing of the crisis to media during a post-election event on Monday. He said while higher maintenance activity leading to power interruptions was expected for the time of year, the unexpected disruptions which coincided with regular maintenance worsened the situation.
On Monday, the ANC Johannesburg regional released a post-election statement effectively blaming the poor management issues at Eskom for sabotaging the party’s election ambitions.
The lower voter turnout was not a surprise, regional secretary Dada Morero said. This could be attributed to a number of factors which include “clear sabotage by the state-owned entity [SOE] Eskom”, he added.
“We have witnessed deliberate conduct of Eskom that paints the state as incapable of generating and supplying electricity, particularly in townships, not only harming our already limping economy but undermining efforts of the informal sector and worsening the living conditions of the people of Johannesburg,” said Morero.
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Eskom has been plagued by a number of plant failures, with its capacity declining from 90% in the 2000s to an average of 64% in 2021.
Morero also accused Eskom of racialising electricity distribution by exposing townships, where mostly black people live, to more frequent power interruptions and load shedding. The region called on the Minister of Public Enterprises Pravin Gordhan to act against Eskom’s “anti-townships” stance.
Meanwhile, the Black Business Council (BBC) has called on Eskom CEO André de Ruyter and the entire Eskom board to step down. The BBC admitted that it was among the first to congratulate De Ruyter on his appointment in November 2019.
However, it is now castigating him and the board for their inability to resolve the prolonged electricity blackouts.
CEO of the BBC Kganki Matabane says the Eskom leadership is completely overwhelmed, inept and out of its depth.
“The inability to stabilise Eskom will only lead to the country being downgraded resulting in the increase in the already world record-breaking unemployment rate, further economic contraction and scaring of international investors” concluded Matabane.
The BBC has called an urgent meeting with Ramaphosa to discuss their call.
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