Hlengwa: Eskom board must do right thing

THE complete lack of progress or positive change in the functioning of Eskom seemed to indicate that both upper management and the board were sitting on their hands, rather than making the difficult decisions needed to steer the entity in the right direction, IFP MP Mkhuleko Hlengwa has said.

Speaking during a debate in the National Assembly on the energy crisis and the threat of a protracted failure of Eskom, Hlengwa said introducing the debate was not influenced by any other development.

Hlengwa recently apologised to Eskom board member Busisiwe Mavuso after an exchange of words, which led her to leave a parliamentary meeting before it was concluded.

He said the debate was requested in the last term in March and conditions had remained the same since as the country remained in the dark. Hlengwa noted that a senior official at Eskom had indicated that they were predicting 100 days of rolling power cuts in winter.

“This entity is unable to deliver on its fundamental mandate which is to generate enough energy to power our national grid. With almost weekly breakdowns and other maintenance issues, it is clear our energy infrastructure is ageing faster than Eskom can get its affairs in order,” he charged.

EFF MP Omphile Maotwe said all interventions to stabilise Eskom were misguided as the government refused to address obvious challenges facing the entity.

“We said stabilise Eskom leadership. We did not tell you to hire incompetent people with a proven history of failing to manage complex entities,” she charged.

Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan said it was the government's commitment to ensure that energy security was achieved as soon as possible.