Moving SA to stage 6 load-shedding is unacceptable, says black business
The Black Business Council’s CEO Kganki Matabane has again called for the axing of Eskom’s executives led by André de Ruyter after the implementation of stage 6 loadshedding.
“The Black Business Council is of the view that Eskom and the security of energy supply are the biggest risks for the achievement of the economic reconstruction and recovery plan and sustainable investments,” Matabane said on Wednesday.
He said the continuous rolling blackouts are unacceptable for a struggling economy trying to recover from the impact of Covid-19.
“Until and unless our government, as shareholders, takes the drastic steps to remove the incompetent management and inadequate board of Eskom, who have time to come with laughable excuses such as continuously blaming state capture instead of solving the electricity generation challenges, the country must forget about any prospect of economic recovery.
“Our beloved country is becoming a laughing stock of the world and a failing state due to lack of political will to hold those who are paid to provide reliable electricity to account.
“We call upon President Cyril Ramaphosa to do the right thing, if he does not want to be remembered as the president who brought our economy to its knees.”
The council again called for De Ruyter and the board to do the “honourable thing” and leave Eskom, he said.
On Tuesday, Business Unity SA (Busa) CEO Cas Coovadia said the implementation of stage 6 load-shedding was a serious blow to an economy already struggling with low growth.
“We are unfortunately not surprised that we have reached this crisis situation. We have been urging the government for many years to remove all barriers to private sector intervention in the generation of energy and power, but it is only recently that government has heeded these considerations,” he said.
Busa urged the government to remove any remaining barriers to private sector generation and get renewables onto the grid as quickly as possible.