MPs want answers over Eskom

Parties lash president over economically damaging outages and unite against privatisation as unions prepare to strike

PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa yesterday faced a political backlash over the crisis at Eskom, as the ANC, Cosatu and the SACP pushed back against any possibility of privatisation of the embattled power utility.

Opposition parties yesterday took turns in criticising Ramaphosa in Parliament over the economically damaging power outages, while Cosatu prepared to take to the streets today to oppose privatisation and job losses at Eskom.

Cosatu president Zingiswa Losi said South Africans should not accept the fact that it went from Stage 2 load shedding to Stage 4 overnight.

“Within Eskom, there are people responsible for the planning and daily operations of the utility. They are supposed to know because I am sure there are quality control measures put into place and people are paid to ensure proper functionality. It is not even winter so we don’t consume as much electricity,” said Losi.

She said South Africans should be given a report detailing all events surrounding the crisis.

The ANC and the SACP also vowed to oppose any attempt by the government to privatise Eskom.

This comes after Ramaphosa announced during his State of the Nation Address last week that the government was considering unbundling Eskom into three separate sub entities – generation, transmission and distribution. ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule said people were concerned that this could mean privatisation.

Speaking yesterday at the 107th birthday celebration of the widow of late Struggle stalwart Moses Kotane – Rebecca Kotane – Magashule said the ANC top six had met leaders of the National Union of Mineworkers who were concerned about privatisation.

“We told them that our position is that there will no retrenchments at Eskom and that there will never be privatisation of Eskom,” he said.

Magashule said if the talk about unbundling meant possible forms of privatisation, it would be against the ANC’s policy and that it would pit the governing party against its alliance partners Cosatu and the SACP.

SACP first deputy general secretary Solly Mapaila said the party was behind Cosatu’s strike. He accused former executives of looting the utility to the ground. He said the new leadership was blackmailing the state into handing it over to the private sector.

In Parliament yesterday, the DA, the EFF, the United Democratic Movement and other parties said Eskom was in crisis.

Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan told MPs they were fixing Eskom and would conduct an independent audit at all power stations. He admitted Medupi and Kusile plants were poorly designed.