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Cosatu has drawn attention to one aspect of the electricity supply crisis that hasn’t received much coverage in the media. Cosatu does not blame Eskom management, but the government’s mania for privatisation. And if that is true, then the heads have already rolled — at the ANC conference in December.And then it is just a question whether wiser heads replace them.
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Cosatu, however, said Eskom was not to blame for the crisis.
“They warned the government years ago that they needed money to invest in new power stations, and applied to the government for this.
“But the government refused to provide the money, which President Mbeki has now admitted and apologised for,” said Craven.
Because the government was set on privatising Eskom and other public utilities, and selling them off to the highest bidder, they had made the supplier inefficient.
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Cosatu consistently opposed privatisation precisely because we insisted that it must be a national service, efficiently providing secure and affordable power to the people and to industry.”
Craven said this could never be achieved by a utility that was motivated to maximise its profits.
“We demand that the government and industry now speed up the process of providing Eskom with the money they need for capital investment, so that we can bring an end to the crisis as quickly as possible.”
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For more comments on the environmental and social aspects of the Eskom crisis, see Notes from underground: Load-shedding a human right violation: SAHRC
And the good news is that the Coega aluminium smelter may be put on hold!
Filed under South Africa, economics, environment, politics
Tags: electricity, Eskom, globalisation, globalization, load shedding, power cuts, privatisation, privatization
5 Comments
19 January 2008 at 8:20 pm
That’s a really interesting take on the case.
I’ll have to think about it a bit, thanks.
Love,
Terri
29 January 2008 at 8:52 pm
I recently read somewhere that in actual fact, ESKOM was never really a state owned entity at all - it was started with a government loan, which was then paid back. Effectively, the ANC nationalised it in the early 90’s, in order to privatise it and then reap the benefits. Today it is a private company in name only, as all its shares are held by government - a glorious mess.
31 January 2008 at 1:40 am
Skylding,
Eskom was originally the ESC — Electricity Supply Commission. It was later known as Escom in English, and Eskom in Afrikaans.
It was semi-privatised some time during the Reagan-Thatcher period — turned into a company with the government owning all or most of the shares — and registered as Eskom, which became its actual name rather than an acronym. The same thing happened with Telkom, Iscor/Yskor (which became Iskor) and Transnet. There were jokes at the time that the Dutch Reformed Church was going to be privatised and called Glonet.
As for as I know the ANC did nothing to change the status of most of these (except possibly Transnet), though it planned to privatise Eskom, and I think it did further privatise Iskor and Sasol (shares traded on stock exchange).
I agree with Cosatu. I don’t mind privatising Sasol and Iskor, because I see no reason why the government should be in the manufacturing business, but things like the main transport and communication infrastructure should not be privatised — including the post office, Telkom, Eskom and so on. That is just Thatcherism gone mad. The ANC government planned to privatise Eskom further, which is why they said that future power stations would be built by private enterprise, which is what led to the present crisis.
11 March 2008 at 12:12 pm
The executive management of Eskom performed to such an extent over the past three years that long term performance bonuses of R10,3 million will be paid to them on 31 March 2008. The question is; how is it possible that South Africa is sitting without electricity while the government owned company that is responsible for power generation will pay out “performance” bonuses. The answer lies in the nature and the performance measurement criteria of these bonuses.
To read more visit http://www.powergroup.org.za under heading ESKOM MANAGEMENT TO RECEIVE “PERFORMANCE”
BONUSSES
It is now time to stop payout of the bonuses. Voice your concern. Visit http://www.mypetition.co.za.
Newsletter with recognition of http://www.forensies.com a partner of Powergroup. Contact us if you want to partner with Powergroup.
Riaan Oosthuysen
18 March 2008 at 10:55 am
Power Shedding
Power Shedding is back, at least in Gauteng. I’m not sure what is happening in the rest of the country but I presume it happening everywhere. I’ve listened to the traffic reports this morning, spoke to some people and received a lot of report of inconvenience and disruptions.
We called the Powergroup into life during January this year in the mist of Load Shedding. Shortly thereafter Load Shedding stopped and everybody was happy again. This weeks Load Shedding according to Eskom is due to ‘n sudden demand of Electricity due to the cold weather. This of course is just ‘n forerunner in the small for the winter on hands. What’s happening now will just repeat on a much bigger scale in the winter to come. In the mean time at least 4 of Eskom generators are out of commission. This just reflects back to the reports brought out by http://www.forensies.com which indicated a lack of planning and maintenance on the whole Electricity grit.
In the mean time Eskom shifts the blame to the consumer. They show their teeth and indicate if we do not use less power we will feel their grunt. I agree, we must use less electricity to get through this crisis, but we must also demand heads to roll of people who are the authors of this crisis and replace them with competent people who does not only do the talk, but also do the walk. If one’s look at Eskom’s financial statements it is clear on their own account that they are the only authors of the electricity crisis.
Million of people had billions of damages due to mismanagement of Eskom and it is time to claim back that was taken away en pressurize Eskom and Government to implement a plan of action and not just talk about it.
I spoke to a lot op people who indicated that what will it help to take on a giant like Eskom. There is a duty on everyone of us to act now. If we do not act we will give Eskom and the Government the green light to proceed with mismanagement. Just look at our roads, look at our municipalities, look at the state of our rivers, and look at the state of service in government organizations. Government organizations are kept alive by business that is forced to do the work of Government officials if business wants to keep the economy alive. I see at the Masters Office, Magistrate Courts, and Municipality Offices. How long will we tolerate this?
I’ve been criticized that I am using emotions and religion to make profit out of an unfortunate crisis in the country. I’ve been criticized that I am busy with touting. I believe that God uses people to bring change about. This means that God will use people to turn our country back to the country it is supposed to be. I am willing to stand up and make a difference. Are you?
If everyone runs away from the problems in our beautiful South Africa with all of its opportunities, I will stil be here because I believe in this country. I know what God has in store for this Country and I know that I’ve got a purpose in this country, do you?
I the mean time Eskom bosses cant wait for the 31 of March 2008 due in 13 days when they will receive an huge bonus of more than R10 Million for allowing this Electricity crises and all we can do is complain, criticize en point fingers but doing nothing, I repeat nothing at all. When will we wake up? When will we put our money where our mouth is?
Powergroup is waiting in anticipation for South Africans and anybody who wants to make a difference in this beautiful country. Powergroup with their experts http://www.forensies.com are already in the position to prove in court that Eskom was negligent in managing electricity in South Africa. According to their own financial statements there is more than enough money available to build more power stations and to pay out damages to people who have been hit hard by this crisis. This has been so for the last 10 years. If we do not act, where will we be in 10 years?
If we unite and stand together we will be the Giant who can force Eskom and Government to act now and we can be through this crisis before we know it. Thereafter we as citizens wil be able to force municipalities and governmental institutions to perform the duties and restore our country to the state it is supposed to be.
Riaan Oosthuysen
http://www.powergroup.org.za
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