THE Democratic Alliance (DA) said on Tuesday that it is “implacably” against the African National Congress’s (ANC’s) intention to move Eskom from the Department of Public Enterprises to the Ministry of Energy, overseen by Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe.
The DA said the move also had potentially significant financial implications for the country.
On Monday President Cyril Ramaphosa said government would implement “a clear mandate” from the ANC to move many State-owned companies, including Eskom, to ministries overseeing their economic sectors.
DA Shadow Minister of Public Enterprises Ghaleb Cachalia is fearful that private investment will be passed over and that corruption and loadshedding will flourish.
Only factional interests are set to gain from this move, which is “clearly an outcome of a political deal to keep president Ramaphosa in power for another term,” said Cachalia.
He highlighted that in the recent run-up to outgoing Eskom CEO André de Ruyter’s resignation, Mantashe displayed his “destructive influence”.
“He is on record as saying ‘Eskom, by not attending to loadshedding, is agitating for the overthrow of the state’. This, on top of earlier statements that De Ruyter was acting ‘like a policeman’ at the corruption-riddled entity,” Cachalia recalled.
He claims that Mantashe will use the coal lobby and his allies to champion the saving of jobs under the guise of fixing Eskom’s energy availability factor.
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