The Eskom conundrum must be looked into
WHAT went wrong with this entity called Eskom: is it something we can be proud of in this new dispensation?
I am asking this question because one can see it is a significant risk to our economic growth objectives.
What had happened? At first, former president Mbeki acknowledged the government ignored calls for investment in new power stations.
Noting the above, we have seen the building of two power stations, Medupi and Kusile, to help the country and grid. Investing in these power stations, we expected an improved or stable Eskom grid.
But what was the new reality? We have seen the increased operational costs, which made me wonder what happened to the two power stations that were recently built to help stabilise the grid.
Are these power stations not supposed to be helping us with the grid problem?
I am thinking out loud now about the operational costs so far because of this continued load shedding. Imagine each time there is a load shedding, we are spending three billion rands for diesel usage and assume that it happens two times a month for the next two years (3bn X 2m) * 24months =R144 billion and at the end, there is nothing that we can show for it.
What do I think is needed to solve this impasse?
It is high time that the president gets a committee explicitly looking into the Eskom conundrum.
The expertise of highly-rated medical specialists was involved in assisting the government with their response to Covid-19, and I don’t think this grid problem can be treated differently. As in yesterday, we need action if we seriously look at creating employment opportunities for the unemployed and vulnerable.
This support structure (Committee of experts) will help alleviate all the concerns if we can be transparent with the organisation’s challenges.
Furthermore, it must be noted that we are going for an ANC elective conference later this year, and one is hoping that there will be clear policy direction regarding Eskom or stateowned entities in its entirety.
There is still hope that Eskom will become incredible again. Let us support all initiatives that aim to revive it.