Nothing will change if ANC moves Eskom to energy department, opposition says

While the ANC remains the governing party, South Africans will continue to be plagued with living in the dark due to power-generating problems at Eskom. That is according to opposition political parties reacting to a potential move by the state-owned power utility to the department of energy and mineral resources.

The ANC’s recent elective conference resolutions ruffled the feathers of opposition parties, particularly talk about an adopted policy stipulating that state entities be led by the relevant departments.

That sparked conversation that the ANC was seeking to move Eskom from the department of public enterprises to the department led by mineral resources and energy minister Gwede Mantashe.

EFF spokesperson Leigh-Ann Mathys said despite the change in departments, South Africans would continue to suffer from load-shedding.

“Nothing will change. We have an ANC problem. It does not matter which minister we have or what department Eskom is under, we will continue to suffer. Our solution to the rolling blackouts is to get rid of the ANC,” Mathys said.

She said Eskom was not the only state-owned entity with a problem, adding they were “deliberately sabotaged so they can be privatised”.

“If South Africans want entities to offer basic services, we need to get rid of the ANC.”

DA MP Ghaleb Cachalia said the move could be disastrous and the party would fight it “tooth and nail”.

“There is a clear and present danger that if this happens, Eskom will never be fully unbundled, as is necessary. Private investment will be pushed to the back burner and under an enhanced version of the status quo — back to the future, as it were — corruption and load-shedding will flourish again,” Cachalia said.

“The move also has potentially significant financial implications, which we are busy unravelling.”

He said the potential move to the ANC national chair’s department was for political gain “to keep President Cyril Ramaphosa in power for another term”.

In the ANC’s January 8 speech, Ramaphosa said solving the power crisis was part of the ruling party’s goals.

“Government should secure additional power in the short term by leveraging surplus capacity from existing generators and procuring additional power on an emergency basis,” he said.

“The ANC will lead a campaign against illegal connections to eliminate load reduction, which is placing an added burden on communities, and a call on all South Africans to join energy-saving measures to alleviate stress on the national grid.”

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