Johannesburg - Besides the feared job losses, the privatisation of Eskom would deliver a serious blow to the country’s electricity problem.
These sentiments have been shared widely on social media platforms by concerned South Africans who fear that last week’s move by Minister of Public Enterprises Pravin Gordhan, who instructed Eskom board chairperson Mpho Makwana to expedite the sale of assets of the Eskom distribution unit to a separate state-owned entity.
Cosatu and the EFF have slammed the move and those seeking to privatise the power utility.
Energy experts also indicated that the intended privatisation and plundering of Eskom assets was being disguised as “unbundling” by Gordhan.
Reacting to the news, energy expert Chris Yelland said the new distribution company was established on August 26, 2022.
He said this entity was registered by former Eskom CEO Andre De Ruyter, who remained a director of the company alongside acting CEO Calib Cassim.
Speaking during a radio interview, Yelland said the country’s distribution industry was in a shambles, adding that more needed to be done to turn the situation around.
“The distribution industry is something of a mess at the moment, with Eskom distributing electricity in some parts of the country and more than 150 municipalities distributing electricity in their areas, many of which are failing to do so effectively… We have to do something about this because it is completely dysfunctional across the country,” he said.
On Friday, Cosatu spokesperson Matthew Parks said the federation was dismayed by the latest steps in the unbundling of Eskom.
Cosatu said Eskom was still crippled by “existential crises” due to corrupt politicians, managers and businesspeople who have looted, mismanaged and underinvested in it to the point of collapse.
Parks said splitting Eskom into various entities and appointing additional boards was merely moving chairs and would have negative consequences.
“The reality is we do not have time for distractions or tinkering on the side when load shedding and the similar challenges affecting Transnet and Prasa have reduced South Africa’s projected economic growth rate this year by more than 2%, cost up to 780 000 new jobs, and robbed the fiscus of R90 billion that it cannot spare.”
On Thursday, the EFF slammed the move as another way to “loot” Eskom, and it was intended to separate assets from the debt acquired while building the very same assets.
The party alleged that the privatisation of Eskom and other state-owned entities, including SAA and the Post Office, with little or no public appraisal would further the ends of widespread corruption.
“Privatising energy policy and electricity generation will not only compromise South Africa’s sovereignty, but will also subject future economic policies to the whims of the private sector, atop an already compromised national treasury that has long been destroying state capacity to promote neo-liberal economic policies,” EFF spokesperson Sinawo Thambo said.
Thambo said the collapse of the utility was deliberate and aimed to frustrate the public and fast-track the privatisation of South Africa’s strategic assets in SOEs that should be at the forefront of re-industrialisation.
However, in a statement, Gordhan said there was no plan to privatise any of the three Eskom entities of generation, distribution and transmission, as reported in the media.
“The reform of Eskom requires the restructuring of Eskom. This means establishing three separate companies housing generation, transmission and distribution businesses — 100%-owned by the state. In order to implement the above, corresponding assets need to be transferred from Eskom Holdings to each of the new companies,” Gordhan said.
The Star