Eskom briefing on rolling blackouts nothing more than a disastrous PR stunt

18 October 2019

Eskom’s media briefing this evening on the rolling blackouts was nothing more than a publicity stunt. The horse has already bolted for the embattled power utility and nothing that it says now will qual the public dissatisfaction, and damage to the economy.

Eskom’s management is clearly out of its depth to deal with this crisis and its turnaround strategies have amounted to very little at a great expense to the people of South Africa.

The reality is that the public does not trust Eskom to keep the lights on, and worse, they do not trust a word Eskom has to say after it seemingly misled South Africans when it refuted the Democratic Alliance’s (DA) revelation that it had issued a warning to municipalities that power cuts were on the cards for the months of September and October.

The DA maintains that Eskom has known for some time that rolling blackouts were on the horizon and either failed or refused to come clean.

South Africans were completely blindsided by Eskom on Monday.

It is clear that Eskom needs to implement early warning alerts, which include all the relevant stakeholders, urgently. It is an indictment on the utility that the country’s economic hub, Johannesburg and other DA-led governments were only informed about the planned power cuts when it was too late to make the necessary preparations. Matriculants and schools across the country also had to scramble in the wake of Eskom’s announcement.

The power utility and government are killing all prospects of growth and development with their amateur approach to a national and regional crisis.

The ANC does not have a plan to keep the lights on. But the DA does. Our Cheaper Electricity Bill, will stabilise and secure South Africa’s power supply and seeks to break Eskom into two separate entities – a generation and distribution entity. It will bring onboard Independent Power Producers, which will result in a stable, cheaper and efficient energy supply.

Tomorrow, Mineral Resources Minister, Gwede Mantashe, will release the long-awaited Integrated Resource Plan (IRP). South Africa and its economy desperately need for the IRP not to be simply a smokescreen to distract the nation from the Eskom crisis. The IRP and Finance Minister, Tito Mboweni’s Medium Term Budget Policy Statement  needs to provide sustainable solutions for energy and the economy.

South Africa simply cannot afford to leap from blackout to blackout without any political and board accountability.

President Ramaphosa’s leadership of silence and patience does not inspire confidence. Silence does not fix problems, actions fix problems.

Investment drives like President Ramphosa’s recent trip to London are useless if we can't guarantee reliable and efficient energy infrastructure.

South Africans need to be given the truth about Eskom, we do not want to be managed through PR

Issued by Natasha Mazzone, DA Shadow Minister of Public Enterprises, 18 October 2019