DA has the solution to fix Eskom, says Steenhuisen:
A stable‚ competitive and affordable electricity sector can become a reality‚ according to the DA‚ which proclaims it knows how to fix Eskom.
Hot on the heels of a week of load-shedding by Eskom‚ MP and DA chief whip John Steenhuisen on Sunday unveiled a billboard on the Queen Elizabeth Bridge in downtown Johannesburg taking aim at the ruling party’s mismanagement of the electricity utility.
He said the ANC had left Eskom besieged with “corruption‚ inefficiency‚ mismanagement and debt”.
“The previous management teams at Eskom have plundered the crippled state-owned entity through pre-paid coal contracts‚ nepotism‚ inflated supply contracts and exorbitant consultancy fees with the likes of McKinsey‚ Trillian and Tegeta. Furthermore‚ Eskom executives have consistently rewarded themselves with massive bonuses and salaries.”
Steenhuisen said President Cyril Ramaphosa’s proposal to unbundle Eskom into three separate business entities to be owned entirely by the holding company would fail as each of the three entities would have the same holding board.
“Thus the intention to stimulate competition in the generation sector of Eskom will be limited by the fact that the entities are not wholly independent or competitive. They will continue to be state-owned.”
Steenhuisen said the DA was proposing that Eskom be broken into a generation and transmission entity.
“Our offer would see the generation entity privatised in an effort to break Eskom’s monopoly‚ allowing independent power producers to compete on an equal footing.
“Well-functioning metros will be able to source energy directly from independent energy suppliers.”