Eskom employees are the unsung heroes!! According to published reports, electrification is well over 80% accomplished using pre-democracy infrastructure that was created to supply no more than 40% of the Republic of South Africa.
Despite the many decisions and actions taken outside the control of the 40+k employees… to name a few over the past two decades: unrealized ANC policies; unfavorable tariffs; load shedding; unmet 1998 energy white paper- breaking Eskom into distribution, generation & transmission; 12 CEOs, 60 board directors; 7 Public Enterprise Ministers & 8 Finance Ministers; stacks of independent task team reports; coal contracts & labor issues; broken belts/boilers; Western Cape bolt incident; Medupi & Kusile new plant capacity delays; plant maintenance; governance collapse; decimation of balance sheet/credit rating; state capture and last yet most devastating too many pilots in the cockpit!
Over the past 20 years, Eskom ringing the alarm bell is well documented and each time Eskom was dismissed as incompetent and told to deliver the plan. The crux of the issue remains, Eskom does not have a sustainable funding model for sources of revenue to ensure reliable operations and diversify the energy mix through CAPEX spending. Eskom sounded a major siren in 2008 and developed a collaborative plan and began working with stakeholders. By 2010, the plan was cast aside and Eskom’s free fall began in earnest.
The two Reform Plans currently tabled in Parliament do not address this reality. The tariff remains insufficient to cover operations let alone capital expenditures. Tough talk and demands on Eskom will not make it so!!
Splitting Eskom into three business units does not solve the lack of funding model. The new CEOs proclamation that load shedding is the new strategy for maintenance does not solve the funding model. The hope that private capital will save Eskom is again unlikely if they are to operate under the same conditions as Eskom…deliver a service for less than the cost!!
Through it all, Eskom employees continue to KEEP THE LIGHTS ON… BRAVO, job well.