LETTER: Eskompetence effects
If President Ramaphosa fails to resolve the energy crisis by May 8, the ANC will lose its majority
President Cyril Ramaphosa says that he isn’t concerned about any negative effects load-shedding might have on the ANC’s performance in the general elections. Rather, his priority is to fix Eskom. It depends on how quickly that can happen, because if the country votes amid continuing blackouts, the ANC will be in deep trouble. Its election slogans like “the power is in your hands, grow South Africa”, will sound even more crass than they already do. Jobs will have been lost, the country’s credit rating junked and every time the lights go out, the electorate will be reminded of the ANC’s complete failure of governance. Although the polls have the ANC sitting comfortably at 60%, the full effects of load-shedding have not yet registered. By May 8, if Eskom has not been stabilised — and watch it spend billions on whatever diesel it can lay its hands on — two things will happen. About 4%-5% of the ANC’s urban voters will give their votes to another party, quite possibly an insignificant on...
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