Riyaz Patel
Former president Kgalema Motlanthe has warned that the ongoing crisis at ailing power utility Eskom “is an immediate threat to this democracy.”
The veteran ANC leader said Eskom is South Africa’s top risk. “The crisis at Eskom threatens the entire country… Eskom can be described as the biggest risk to the countries economy,” he told hundreds of people during a memorial service for the late ANC stalwart Ben Turok who passed away in November aged 92.
The former president added that blaming Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan for the crisis at Eskom and calls for him to be sacked would be to “completely missing the point.”
“If you personalize it, the minister is several notches away from the operations. And so if we think that’s where the problem really lies – we may be completely missing the point.”
Speaking to SABC at the same gathering Saturday, Business Unity SA (BUSA) President Sipho Pityana described calls for Gordhan to step down as “opportunistic” and that taking such a step would lead to further disruptions at Eskom.
Motlanthe cautioned government that tackling all the country’s challenges in one go would not yield the desired results. “If we are to rebuild this country, we need to prioritise. We can’t pay attention to all our problems, social, political and economic, at the same time.”
Motlanthe said government is not properly diagnosing the Eskom crisis, simply addressing the symptoms, having previously described the state-owned power utility as the “lubricant of our economy.”
The former president had previously said:“You need the best engineers to sit on the (Eskom) board.”
“We don’t know where the money goes we throw at Eskom, whether it goes to servicing debt, paying salaries, fixing broken equipment. And doubt breeds suspicion, and if populace doesn’t understand, they will not support these difficult measures to fix Eskom,” he said at an address to the GIBS Business School in June.
Paying tribute to the late ANC veteran Turok at the Community House in Salt River, Cape Town, Motlanthe paid glowing tribute to the former parliamentarian for his role in the anti-apartheid struggle, and lauded him for his “uncompromising stance against injustice, corruption, and unethical leadership.”
“The life and death of Turok is a reminder of how one should live for your beliefs,” calling on others to be like Turok and and to remain the right side of history.
“Today’s memorial meeting and the moving tributes are attributes of a man who proved to be nothing less than a great role model, a consistent moral leader of our time, this memorial service offers us a chance to become like Turok and be on the right side of history.”
