Eskom achievement began before 1985

THE John Maree obituary of August 14 refers. I find it sad that an obituary to a fine man and a patriot is used as an opportunity to defame a once noble organisation, Eskom. The author uses phrases such “saved Eskom from the brink of collapse in the ’80s”. Really?

Did Maree state specifically that Eskom consisted of engineers who knew little or nothing about how to run a business? I don’t think so. These were the guys who designed, got finance for and then built a string of huge projects: Matla, Duvha, Kendal, Lethabo, Tutuka and Koeberg power stations.

The same guys co-designed the most efficient transmission towers in the world, and then got them strung all over the country to take power to huge smelting plants and new mines. Look at the Eskom/BHP Billiton deal, as fine a bit of financial and engineering thinking as you will find. All achieved by Eskom in the decade prior to Maree joining. Can any decade since 1985 offer comparable achievements for Eskom? —T Brick, retired engineer, Honeydew