As we struggle in vain to come to terms with our abysmal power situation, it serves some purpose to remind ourselves of the state of Eskom before the ANC got its grubby hands on it.
Before 1994 Eskom was globally regarded as the world’s most efficient power utility. Our cost of electricity was the world’s lowest, load-shedding was unheard of, Eskom bonds were eagerly sought after by international investors and thanks to a robust cash flow it was comfortably liquid. Accordingly, the ANC inherited a glorious hen that laid a host of golden eggs.
Yet without considering the consequences of its actions the governing party dispensed with Eskom’s top management and team of skilled engineers, replacing them with unqualified party cadres and drew down the utility’s cash reserves for purposes that can only be speculated upon.
The grand irony was that the management that was so readily dispensed with warned that investment in generation infrastructure had to be prioritised if SA was not to be left in the dark some two decades hence. It was for this reason that cash had been accumulated.
Alas, prescience of this calibre fell on deaf ears. As the telling Afrikaans saying goes: Kyk hoe lyk hy nou.
John Spira, Johannesburg
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