THROWBACK THURSDAY

Cyril Ramaphosa’s state of the nation address last week suggested a return to policies past. The biggest throwback — and the one most likely to bite — is a revival of Thabo Mbeki’s plan to restructure Eskom

authority to focus on state capture, Ramaphosa is turning back the clock to move SA into the future.

Undoubtedly the biggest and most urgent throwback concerns the restructuring of

Eskom. It was, after all, under the Mbeki presidency that the government mooted the possibility of splitting Eskom into three to turn it into a more sustainable business. But in the aftermath of his ousting, even his best-laid plans collapsed under the corruptible weight of Zuma’s ANC.

That party is now Ramaphosa’s ANC. Already, there are noises from the erstwhile Zuma faction opposing any plan to restructure Eskom — which, ironically, buckled under the corruption and mismanagement of their patron’s watch.

But the loudest opposition comes from Ramaphosa’s own constituency — those who were first out of the blocks to support him in his quest for the ANC presidency. The Left, predictably, has been most vocal in its disapproval of the reforms the president has proposed after “nine lost years” under Zuma. was a serious soldier of the 1996 class project … The appointment of Tito Mboweni as finance minister is part of that,” Dakile said.

“The question of the unbundling is not a new debate; we thought we had resolved it. It feels like déjà vu.”

Cosatu is set to embark on a national strike this week, which Dakile said would launch resistance against job losses and “other antidevelopmental state tendencies”.

The National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa), which organises workers alongside the NUM at Eskom, said it would “defend” the power utility in the streets.

Numsa’s Irvin Jim said the unbundling of Eskom marks the first step toward privatisation. “The rationale … has not been explained to us. It sounds ideologically just like the liberalisation and privatisation of the Thatcher and Reagan era,” he said.

The union said the state has declared war on the working class, and is punishing workers for two decades of “rampant mismanagement, looting and corruption”.

Unions are vocal now that the cat is out little to address Eskom’s financial challenges.”

It says Eskom remains a significant risk to SA’S fiscal position.

The utility is unable to service its R419bn debt from the revenue it earns. It is also battling to keep the lights on due to poor maintenance and substandard construction on its Medupi and Kusile power stations.

The ANC, in its lekgotla resolution on Eskom, which the FM has seen, said: “Eskom is bankrupt, which presents a serious threat not only to government, but to the economy as a whole. Incurring more debt is no longer an option.”

The Eskom question is set to become Ramaphosa’s keenest test.

Amid the politicking, the true extent of the crisis hit home on Monday, when Eskom implemented stage 4 load-shedding. It was a sobering reminder of the need to find a solution to SA’S energy crisis — and fast.

It was also grim proof that the nine years under Zuma were not, in fact, merely lost; rather, the destruction wrought in those years is all but complete.