The quibbling within the ANC’s national executive committee (NEC) this weekend over being kept in the dark about the Eskom crisis is amusing given that the party has been in charge of energy policy for almost three decades.
The ANC remains its factionalised, insular self as it tries to grapple with key challenges facing South Africans daily. As always, the instinct of its top leadership is not to deal with the problem head-on, but to seek to place the blame elsewhere.
NEC member Nomvula Mokonyane complained that Luthuli House was not being briefed about the crippling strike at Eskom, which plunged the country into stage 6 load-shedding. You have to wonder what the woman who allegedly received braai packs and handbags stuffed with cash from dodgy services company Bosasa would have done about the strike had she been briefed.
At the meeting, some speakers blamed public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan for the crisis, while others blamed the Eskom board and management for not communicating adequately. The meeting mulled giving mineral resources & energy minister Gwede Mantashe complete control of Eskom — heaven forbid — and even declaring a state of emergency.
Gordhan himself blamed sabotage, state capture and corruption, among other things. Unions blamed management, management blamed unions.
Of course, all these factors have contributed to the situation the country finds itself in, with demand for electricity far outstripping supply. But while South Africans endured hours of blackouts, the ANC indulged in its favourite pastime — factionalised squabbling and pontificating.
During every severe bout of load-shedding — and the country has had many — the ANC grandstands as if it is some alien entity far removed from the perfect storm besetting our energy space. Yet it is the party itself that lost the power game back in 1998, when it failed to act after the government white paper on energy policy called for it to restructure and liberalise the energy sector.
The ANC grandstands as if it is some alien entity far removed from the perfect storm besetting our energy space
The truth is there is little that the ANC can say or do now that would extricate it from the mess that is Eskom. The government has been responsible for appointing every CEO and board since 1994. Poor policy decisions at government level, corruption, state capture and now allegations of sabotage at Eskom are linked to the ANC’s internal factional battles and warring between powerful business interests for access to the lucrative contracts offered by the state-owned company.
President Cyril Ramaphosa is said to have told the NEC that “communication” about what is being done to address the power crisis is important, but this is literally all the ANC government has been doing — communicating but failing to act.
ANC deputy president David Mabuza last week said those writing the party’s obituary in upcoming elections are off the mark, and that it is alive and kicking and will make a stunning comeback. Newly elected ANC Gauteng chair Panyaza Lesufi has reportedly said the party in the province is not on its deathbed and can come back from the state it is in. Brave sentiments when spoken under the bright light of the sun.
The truth is that load-shedding has a huge effect on the ANC’s electoral fortunes. Internal polling has repeatedly shown the impact of rolling blackouts, especially on its electoral prospects in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal. The ANC’s poorest electoral performance to date was in the local government elections last year — it lost three Gauteng metros and very nearly lost control of eThekwini — and the polls were held in the midst of stage 4 load-shedding.
Its leaders in the government and management at Eskom are keenly aware of this; special effort used to be made to ensure the lights were on around election time. But 2021 showed Eskom is no longer able to put these stopgap measures in place, and the memory of sometimes 10-hour blackouts will be fresh in South Africans’ minds in 2024.
ANC leaders can continue to fight their factional battles using Eskom as a proxy; it will simply prevent any constructive action from being taken to improve the situation.
Already, proposals to bring back former managers, engineers and operators with the expertise to stabilise the sinking ship are being frowned upon by some in the NEC, who raised concern that this would entail bringing back more white officials — even though this might help to fix the skills shortage at Eskom.
The longer Eskom remains on its knees, the more difficult it becomes for the ANC to do well in elections. It’s simple. The ANC will reap the energy crisis whirlwind, in the most painful way possible, at the polls.
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