Mabuza faces tough questions from MPs

Deputy president David Mabuza, who has been in Russia in recent months amid growing concerns about his fitness to hold office, faced light-hearted banter when he came to answer questions in parliament on Thursday. But the banter did not last long.

Deputy president David Mabuza, who has been in Russia in recent months amid growing concerns about his fitness to hold office, faced light-hearted banter when he came in to answer questions in parliament on Thursday.

Mabuza, who is the leader of government business, travelled to Russia for medical treatment.

Since 2015 after he was allegedly poisoned at a party during his tenure as Mpumalanga premier, Mabuza has visited Russia on several occasions, seeking treatment. He has previously stated that he prefers Russian doctors because they understand his condition.

During Thursday’s virtual session, some opposition MPs greeted him in Russian pointing out that he has been away for too long amid deepening political and economic crises in SA.

But the banter did not take long, with the MPs getting down to business, asking him about the Eskom crisis and the explosion that rocked the utility’s Medupi power station.

Mabuza said the Eskom explosion was a huge setback for the government’s efforts to stabilise the power utility and improve energy supply.

“This [explosion] is a major setback in our efforts to stabilise our energy generation. We have over the past few months recorded good progress in terms of stabilising our generation, stabilising load-shedding,” he said.

Earlier in August, one unit at Medupi, Eskom’s newest coalfired station, exploded causing damage to the generator, and tripping another unit.

Eskom, which is regarded as a major threat to SA’s finances, said at the time that no injuries were reported and all employees and contractors had been accounted for.

INVESTIGATION

“Following the power station preliminary investigation, it appears that while performing this activity, air was introduced into the generator at a point where hydrogen was still present in the generator at sufficient quantities to create an explosive mixture, which ignited and resulted in the explosion,” the power utility said.

Employees involved in the matter were placed under suspension pending the conclusion of probes. Mabuza said it was anticipated that the affected unit would be offline for a “considerable period.

“We are equally concerned [about when repairs will be finalised], but it is best to respond to the outcome of an investigation... I understand the frustration that we are facing as a country in terms of energy shortages, load-shedding.

“We have been through a very rough journey ... but I want to appeal to honourable members to allow this investigation to be completed, and we [are] going to urge Eskom that the investigation be completed sooner so that we can start with the repairs. We will take action if this incident is as a result of human error,” he said.

The embattled power utility supplies virtually all of SA’s energy and exports some to its neighbours.

However, with debt of over R400bn, which it cannot service from revenue, Eskom has long been regarded as a major risk to SA’s finances.

Mabuza emphasised that the government does not intend to privatise the power utility.

The deputy president also fielded questions on the July riots which destroyed many businesses and left more than 300 dead and scores injured.

“We want to thoroughly investigate the cause so that we come up with a very conclusive report about what happened.

“We must accept that we might have done better as a security cluster to avoid this. That’s why we have committed to strengthening security structures and institutions.”