EFF statement on Eskom move to Department of Minerals and Energy

12 January 2023

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) notes the long overdue decision to move Eskom from the Department of Public Enterprises to the Department of Minerals and Energy. The EFF has long called for govemment to disband the Department of Public Enterprises and move Eskom, Transnet, Denel, South African Airways and all other entities to departments that deals directly with each of the entities sector. The failure to reconfigure government in line with developmental needs and the strategic role of state-owned companies has led to the collapse of Eskom.

However, this move under the ANC Government will not fix South Africa's power crisis. South Africa's overall crisis is the ANC Government. It is the ANC Govemment since 1994 that has dismally failed to meet power demands as it has failed to provide decolonized free and equal education, as it has failed to provide the bare basics of a flushing toilet and water, the list of its failures are endless.

The rolling blackouts will continue and escalate regardless of which department oversees Eskom because the mandate of the capitalist establishment remains - the absolute collapse of Eskom so it can be privatised. The Department of Public Enterprises initial mandate by the racist apartheid National Party government was to privatise public entities to prevent a democratic government from transforming society, eradicate poverty and create jobs. The failure of the ANC to readdress this makes them complicit in furthering the agenda of racist apartheid.

The ANC Govemment has demonstrated its lack of political will to position Eskom to generate dependable and affordable electricity as a public service. Its obsession with privatisation when more than 18 million people live in extreme poverty and cannot afford electricity is a deliberate intention to entrench poverty when the country has wealth of mineral resources enough to eradicate poverty and create sustainable jobs.

The only solution to the end of the Eskom crisis is the end of the ANC Govemment. The EFF is ready to govern South Africa out of the power crisis based on our country's developmental needs.

- Under an EFF Government, Eskom will no longer be a middleman between parasitic Independent power Producers (IPP) and electricity consumers. IPPs are at the centre of Eskom's financial woes. As a start, the EFF will stabilise Eskom finances by cancelling the exorbitant IPPs purchasing agreements, particularly renewable energy.

- The EFF Government will implement an energy mix of coal, nuclear, gas, wind, solar and other dependable sources with an appropriate balance. This is our country's only viable option to meet power demands that are affordable and consistent. The ANC policy to drastically replaces coal with wind and solar power is incoherent and misguided.

- An EFF Govemment will immediately end all plans to destroy Eskom by 'unbundling' it into three separate companies i.e. Generation, Transmission and Distribution. A sound energy policy is state ownership of electricity generation and the supply of power as a public good. This ensures that electricity is affordable and is not produced on the basis of profiteering and greed.

Additionally, Eskom must depart from the illusionary conviction that South Africa can mediate or abandon coal as a base load of our country's electricity needs. Eskom must unashamedly stabilize all coal power generation facilities and infrastructure whilst all of us continue to explore other sources of energy and systems that will not pollute the environment.

Further to this, Eskom must establish a renewable energy division and stop reliance on the rapacious, callous and greedy IPPs who have been unfairly and unethically benefiting from energy generation at the expanse of energy dependability and stability.

Above outlines the immediate and the overall approach of the EFF to firmly position Eskom to provide dependable and affordable power supply as a public good. Load shedding must not be normalized as it is the direct result of Cyril Ramaphosa's failures to lead a competent corruption-free Government.

Issued by Sinawo Thambo, National Spokesperson, EFF, 12 January 2023