Eskom scalps the poor for bonuses

If Alice were to emerge from the rabbit hole in Wonderland and suddenly find herself in the middle of modern-day South Africa, she wouldn’t notice much difference. In a country where logic is conspicuous by its absence and where outrageous cheek is the order of the day, the news that Eskom is planning to pay performance bonuses of R1.8 billion still beggars belief.

Even worse, the report on the bonuses appeared in City Press newspaper just as Eskom declared countrywide stage 2 load shedding.

But it gets worse.

According to the report, Eskom intends scalping its long-suffering consumers for a further R70 billion in the short and medium term and is involved in a legal battle with the National Electricity Regulator of South Africa about its plans.

Today, Andre de Ruyter – brought into to try to save Eskom (and the country) – starts his new job there as CEO … reportedly a week early.

The load shedding comes as a result of “unanticipated” breakdowns of conveyor belts at Medupi power station and because the grid itself is “constrained and vulnerable”.

It also makes President Cyril Ramaphosa look like a bit of a chump after he promised there would be no load shedding between December 15 and January 15.

When businesses and factories reopen today after the festive season break, they will be hit by losses running into hundreds of millions of rands. Further down the economic road, it is becoming more and more likely SA could slip into recession.

What the Eskom disaster shows, beyond all doubt, is that state-owned enterprises are being preyed upon and sucked dry by the ANC and its cadres, all in the name of sham improvement schemes like radical economic transformation and black economic empowerment.

The ANC-connected rich are getting richer and the poor (the rest of the people) are just getting poorer.