‘Eskom’ has become a swear word in South Africa!
A spokesman for Cosatu said that corruption, waste and incompetence have contributed to the disastrous load-shedding.
Load-shedding has descended on us like a black cloud with power cuts occurring twice a day for two hours at a time. It is disrupting home routines, and seriously affecting businesses. It is a nuisance that could have been avoided.
Zuma once proudly said that load-shedding was a thing of the past. Yet an expert estimated we will continue to suffer well into 2025.
One speculates if this situation is an act of sabotage or an attempt to frustrate the anti-corruption measures of President Ramaphosa.
A spokesman for Cosatu said that corruption, waste and incompetence have contributed to the disastrous load-shedding.
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Incompetence is illustrated in the example where the power utility appointed a dentist and a beautician to supply diesel for its generators.
The failure by Eskom to recover debts amounting to millions, from municipalities and huge residential areas such as Soweto, has contributed to the problem. Growing illegal connections of electricity adds to the issue.
Eskom pays millions to its over-supply of and over-payment to managers and other officials yet it is estimated that the utility owes R45 billion per annum on interest alone on loans it has incurred.
Corruption led to major design faults at Medupi and Kusile power stations. City Press estimates that the design flaws will cost R345 billion to fix.
The following are some of the causes of the outages:
(Ref. Mybroadband):
- Poor maintenance at many power stations.
- A lack of skills to check things like pressure and oil levels which causes the power generation units to switch off automatically.
- Poor quality coal.
- Broken custom made fans which take a long time to replace.
- Various mill problems causing disruption.
- A decline in efficiency at Eskom and its power stations.
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The attitude of people in government seemed lackadaisical until power shedding hit us.
Accountability, strict monitoring and employment of experienced and competent people must be followed.
*The views in this column are that of the columnist.
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