Eskom’s salvation lies with the Presidency, treasury, Department of Public Enterprises … we’ve waited 25 years already

[View in browser]( [Mail & Guardian]( M&G Mornings | Tue 24 Jan   What is most frustrating about our electricity crisis is that it’s an iceberg that people much smarter than you and me — or at the very least people you’d expect to be — saw this catastrophe coming some 25 years ago and yet we still sailed straight into the iceberg. The government of that day heard the warnings but couldn’t give Eskom the go-ahead to both replace its ageing fleet and expand its generation capacity because of the ANC’s internal debates about privatisation — especially after the South African Communist Party’s heartbreak at the loss of Telkom. In 2003, Telkom was the first major listing on the JSE of a state-owned company. I remember Blade Nzimande, the one-time secretary general of the communist ally of the ANC, gloating that privatisation on the scale of Telkom would never happen again after Thabo Mbeki was ousted as party president some four years later. Fair enough, political contests are about ideas or at least were about them at that rainy Polokwane conference 15 years ago. The idea of an Eskom break-up was well and truly beaten at that point, at least. But in taking the no-privatisation route, we still needed to sustainably fund the expansion of power generation in the country and choose the course. Can anyone define what the course is today — what has happened over the years has amounted to a patchwork approach to our electricity deficit. Will we get answers from the State of the Nation address? I don’t know. I’m flaking a bit — in all honesty, I don’t think so. In a couple of weeks, President Cyril Ramaphosa will tell us to wait for Enoch Godongwana to give us the final details of the Finance Ministry’s plans to solve Eskom’s debt issues. But we will be disappointed, as the Treasury is unlikely to give a clearer picture in the budget speech. It’s a play that has been with us for more than a decade, one where a president says to wait for plans from the Treasury only for the men and women in Church Street to pass the baton back to the presidency and the Department of Public Enterprise. Have we not lost patience with this merry go round yet? I sure have. Someone needs to take the bull by the horns and make a decision. Ron Derby | Editor-in-Chief [@RonDerby]( [System failure: Ajay and Atul Gupta. Muntu Vilakazi/Gallo/City Press]( Premium [First state capture trial with Guptas charged commences]( The state charges that Iqbal Sharma’s firm massively defrauded the state and R19 million was laundered into a UAE account controlled by a family friend Join thousands of South Africans who want a more just South Africa. Read past party lines, past the bluster and the distortion. Get the best reporting, analysis and commentary that is factual, balanced and fair with uninterrupted access to all Mail & Guardian content online. 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