Gordhan feels the heat over Eskom crisis
Minister promises 2-year energy security plan
PUBLIC Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan has been slammed for repeating a promise that the country will have energy security “in the next two years”.
Gordhan was addressing the load shedding crisis in a virtual address on Tuesday night at the Durban Chamber of Commerce and Industry annual gala dinner. “Do we have a plan and are we doing everything possible to implement the plan? The plan is to assure ourselves of energy security for the next two to two-and-a-half years and was announced by the president on 25 July,’’ Gordhan said.
Gordhan said a crisis committee comprised of several ministers, which is chaired by President Cyril Ramaphosa, is actively at work, and the aim is to provide that security. Gordhan said this would not happen overnight but certainly over the next 18 months or slightly longer than that.
“In the immediate instance, our task is to make sure that Eskom works better than it works at the moment.
“All of us are dissatisfied with the current performance from power stations that Eskom manages and Eskom is under constant monitoring by ourselves at national government level to ensure that everything possible is done to support them to overcome its current problems.
“Included in this is to obtain better maintenance services, ensure better quality of coal delivered to Eskom, ensure the theft of fuel oil is limited and does not become a cost factor to Eskom and more importantly, wherever possible, give Eskom the space and consent to, purchase as many megawatts as it can find, whether from the private sector or the southern African region to minimise the impact of load shedding in the country.
“We don’t want to engage in political attacks some have done earlier today but we certainly want to assure you that everything possible is being done,” Gordhan said in reference to DA leader John Steenhuisen’s press conference.
Steenhuisen called for Minerals and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe to be fired and accused Ramaphosa, Mantashe and Gordhan of being lethargic in their response to the crisis.
There have also been calls from the EFF for Eskom chief executive Andre de Ruyter to be dismissed.
Speaking on Newzroom Afrika yesterday, Gordhan said: “Let’s get this country working because politicking won’t help us in any way.
“In terms of speculation about names and who will fire whom, I’m sure each of us has thoughts on that matter and at an appropriate time we can talk about that, but that’s not a debate for now. We must focus our energy on making sure the major enterprises and entities are working, keeping households happy and getting onto their feet at the Eskom level in particular. Let’s get this country working because that’s our priority.”
In response to Gordhan’s comments, energy expert Chris Yelland said that it would take longer than two years to resolve the maintenance issues at Eskom.
“Skills and maintenance are not going to solve the problem in the timeline Gordhan has provided because Eskom needs new generation capacity. An increase in maintenance means there will be more load shedding because there is no generation reserve space and there is less availability.”
Yelland said that there are hundreds of generators and it is not physically possible to maintain these units over the next two years.
“Eskom has to first build new generation capacity,” he said.
Eskom said on Tuesday night that load shedding will continue to be implemented at stage 5, with the possibility of reducing it to stage 4 by today.