Riyaz Patel
An Eskom board member says “political interference” is impeding it from executing decisions that could prevent the power utility’s collapse.
Busisiwe Mavuso told the Parliaments Committee on Appropriations (SCOA) that the board was repeatedly stymied by “political considerations” from taking steps that would help drag Eskom out of the red.
“I’ll tell you what we’ll do. We’d actually go to South Africans and say we need to load shed at least for the next eight months.”
Busisiwe Mavuso, Eskom board member
A fired-up Mavuso vented frustration with government instructions that overturned board decisions, saying if it was up to the board, Eskom would “load shed for the next eight months” so that long-neglected maintenance could be carried out on ageing power stations.
“If we were given the latitude to actually make decisions without political interference as this board, I’ll tell you what we’ll do. We’d actually go to South Africans and say we need to load shed at least for the next eight months – and I’m saying that understanding that load shedding for one day costs the economy R2 billion – but that would be the honest conversation.”
The Eskom board was briefing Parliament’s Standing Committee on Appropriations late Tuesday.
Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan said he has not heard all what Mavuso said, but cautioned Eskom board members to be “carefull” when commenting.
“I think she has to be careful of what she says as a board member because she is part of a collective decision-making process and accounts to the shareholder which is government at the end of the day.”
Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan
“We all have to make difficult decisions and one of the difficult decisions is whether we fire 16,000 people or not and a government that is responsible will not fire 16,000 people,” Gordhan told 702.
Mavuso told the committee Eskom was too big a problem for the board alone to be cast as its saviour and an “honest conversation” was needed.
“This is an issue that affects 57 million South Africans. Eskom at the moment is a sovereign risk and its collapse means the collapse of the South African economy,” Mavuso said.
She said the board found itself between a rock and a hard place.
“So, if you’re going to be given an instruction to say keep lights on at all costs because we are nearing elections, it’s actually problematic. I wish we could actually be given the latitude as this board to do what we’re supposed to do.”
She said Eskom needed strategic equity partners because its problems were too great for the fiscus to manage.
Committee chair Sfiso Buthelezi said everyone should be allowed to do his/her job, but “with taxpayers bailing out Eskom, there is a role for government to ensure that Eskom does not fail in its mandate.”
Mavuso also had trade unions in her sights, saying they couldn’t continue “to sit like principals with a red pen” thinking they have no role to play.
On Tuesday, Gordhan presented a paper by the government on its plans to break down Eskom’s key components into three entities.
