SA urgently needs energy crisis solutions, not promises

Ordinarily, President Cyril Ramaphosa would have won plaudits for his decision to cut short his overseas trip in light of the latest descent into stage 6 load-shedding. It would have sent the welcome signal of a head of state in tune with the nation’s mood, deeply concerned about the power crisis and determined to speedily resolve it. Not in this case. Instead, Ramaphosa’s gesture, no doubt wellintentioned, was met with scepticism by a jaded population that has been subjected to increasing hardship from load-shedding for more than a decade. The exasperation among South Africans is driven by the fact that the government has allowed the problem to continue festering since it first manifested in 2008. In that time the government has repeatedly promised that load-shedding would soon be a thing of the past and the promise has never been kept.

The recent round of dire load-shedding has dealt a further body blow to an already struggling economy and doomed any prospect of an early recovery or reversal of the unsustainably high levels of unemployment.

Many businesses have had to incur the extra expense of procuring alternative sources of energy, adding to the cost of doing business. Smaller businesses, with limited financial means, will not be able to sustain the added costs. Many will fold, never to return.

The government has unveiled various plans to fix Eskom, most of which are medium to long term. While forward planning is absolutely necessary, what is urgently needed now, and what the government seems unable to provide, is immediate relief for the economy. It loses billions with every bout of loadshedding and requires a solution today if it is not to suffer possibly irreparable harm.

It is an indictment of the government that in all the years since load-shedding began it has failed to address the problem, and has, through sins of commission and omission, allowed it to worsen.

While it is true that state capture and corruption played a role in damaging Eskom, the ineptitude of various administrations and bad policy choices contributed significantly to the crisis in which we find ourselves.

So what is to be done? When a problem as serious as the power crisis has persisted for as long as it has, common sense suggests that it cannot be business as usual. It would be insanity to expect that things will improve if the government continues on its present path of apathy and heedlessness. In the midst of this emergency, the lack of urgency, accountability and consequences has been simply breathtaking, both in the government and at Eskom.

The president, after doing the right thing by returning home, must take the lead — and not by making any more empty promises. He and his cabinet have held many meetings on the crisis but there is little evidence of positive results.

Similarly, the Eskom board, seemingly unable to do its job of holding management to account, must come under scrutiny. The shareholders’ failure to fill vacant positions on the board has hampered its ability to carry out its tasks effectively.

The sooner a new board is appointed, dominated by engineers and others with the expertise to resolve the power crisis, the better.

Among the immediate duties of the new board would be to assess whether the management, led by CEO André de Ruyter, is the most suitable to lead the country out of the crisis.

While that is being done, Ramaphosa should push on with the long-term reforms he has previously announced to remove the obstacles hobbling the utility’s ability to perform its function. Wavering on the reform programme will make him part of the problem. It is time for him to grasp the nettle.

What is urgently needed now, and what the government seems unable to provide, is immediate relief for the economy