Eskom’s endless crisis demands an urgent response

The current round of load-shedding by Eskom constitutes nothing less than a national crisis. President Cyril Ramaphosa, his cabinet and the Eskom task team have failed to stem the power utility’s appalling mismanagement in almost every respect. That mismanagement includes communications during times of crisis – it is non-existent. leaving South Africans scrambling.

It took Ramaphosa 60 hours to comment on the weekend’s Eskom failure, noting when he did, the impact of storm damage on the power line from Mozambique’s Cahora Bassa hydroelectric system.

A Mozambique cyclone alert was first issued at least 10 days ago. Was South Africa’s disaster and crisis management network – including Eskom – not alert to the possible implications for both regional and national interests of cyclone damage?

It is likely Eskom’s highly paid honchos took little or no measures to mitigate the impact in SA of the storm damage. They simply used the storm as the latest excuse for gross ineptitude.

Some will say the problems are huge and not of Eskom’s making. We disagree.

Eskom has one allconsuming corporate task among the minutiae of jobs, functions and processes reflected in the 48,000 people employed by the utility: It must generate and maintain a power supply to the country.

Eskom shows no sign of improving in this core work; it appears hell-bent on moving the country to a national blackout.

It is untenable that we stand aside and wait for the inevitable to happen. It may be time for government to declare a national public emergency on the security of our electricity supply, or consider its options under either the Companies Act or the Public Finance Management Act, to implement a form of judicial management over its own company, given Eskom’s failures.

If, for example, Eskom’s core corporate objective is not being met, do trade unions representing the company’s employees have any leg to stand on when opposing radical restructuring? That’s apart from the gross corruption, mismanagement and incompetence which has been in the public domain for some time.

As Eskom continues to fail us, it may become the biggest blot on the ANC’s aspirations to govern the country for a further five years.

State-owned company’s failures may be biggest blot on aspirations of ANC to govern for another four years