Task team seeks solutions to Eskom’s problems
THE Eskom War Room has been renamed the Eskom Task Team, and its members met for the first time yesterday.
An announcement was made in December that the war room would be revived as South Africa slid deeper into an energy crisis.
Deputy President David Mabuza, who heads the task team, said it had to urgently deal with the impact load shedding had on ordinary South Africans.
“Today’s (yesterday’s) meeting is being held in recognition that swift and decisive action needs to be taken to respond to the prevailing crisis of energy supply, which is informed by challenges in Eskom,” Mabuza said.
“We thus have to urgently address the negative impact that power outages are having on the daily lives of the people and the economy.
“The roadmap presented by Eskom gives an indication that there is now a focused approach to how we respond to this crisis – in a much more concrete manner. All relevant stakeholders must work together with speed and be focused on resolving this crisis.”
Task team members include representatives of Eskom, the State Security Agency, and the ministers of Energy, Finance, Public Enterprises, Co-operative Governance and the Presidency.
It was set up by President Cyril Ramaphosa to provide political oversight and address the Eskom power generation crisis, and to co-ordinate efforts to ensure Eskom has the necessary support as it tries to implement a
“The government views the Eskom process as critical for investment David Mabuza Deputy president
turnaround plan.
“In this regard, government views the process of ensuring security of energy supply as one of the critical prerequisites for investment, development and sustained economic growth,” said Mabuza.
Eyebrows were raised recently when Eskom announced that South Africans were to endure load shedding for at least the next 18 months.
When Eskom experienced its worst difficulties yet, forcing it to implement Stage 6 load shedding in early December, it was decided the war room should be brought back.