LETTER: 27 years of ANC misrule has collapsed SA’s economy
We have never been closer to total economic failure, yet the ANC still insists on policies that ruined our neighbour to the North
27 September 2022 - 16:09
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For 28 years, we have waited for this moment. Every time you heard another state entity or government department collapsing into dysfunction, you checked the effect on your life. So what if the SA Air Force can’t fly any planes or the navy’s ships can’t sail? When Prasa failed, the taxis moved in; when Transnet failed, the trucks took over.
But with Eskom, there in nowhere to hide. People with money can get their homes off the grid, but factories and mines require huge amounts of reliable power. It’s the end of the road for an industrialised SA.
Never in our modern industrial history have we been close to this total economic failure. This has only happened in the past 27 years under ANC rule. It is not unprecedented though; in the 1980s, Zimbabwe followed similar polices, leading to an economic meltdown in the early 2000s.
What did the ANC learn from this? Nothing. It brought in aggressive BEE policies and procurement. It unwittingly created an economy based on sand and now it’s collapsing.
As we have seen, the ANC leadership’s pride is too important. They would rather ruin the country than change their policies or look inward.
American Electric Power produces about the same power as Eskom (38,000MW) with a total of 16,000 employees, including 63,000km of transmission lines. Eskom employs 42,000 people.
Andre De Ruyter made a huge mistake when he took the job of CEO by accepting that there would be no retrenchments and that BEE and employment equity would continue. He thought he could work around it, but it’s impossible, a band aid on a gaping wound.
Eskom could get rid of 20,000 people tomorrow and save R15bn a year. But then it’s not about generating cost-effective electricity, is it?
Rob Tiffin, Cape Town
JOIN THE DISCUSSION: Send us an email with your comments to letters@businesslive.co.za. Letters of more than 300 words will be edited for length. Anonymous correspondence will not be published. Writers should include a daytime telephone number.
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
LETTER: 27 years of ANC misrule has collapsed SA’s economy
We have never been closer to total economic failure, yet the ANC still insists on policies that ruined our neighbour to the North
For 28 years, we have waited for this moment. Every time you heard another state entity or government department collapsing into dysfunction, you checked the effect on your life. So what if the SA Air Force can’t fly any planes or the navy’s ships can’t sail? When Prasa failed, the taxis moved in; when Transnet failed, the trucks took over.
But with Eskom, there in nowhere to hide. People with money can get their homes off the grid, but factories and mines require huge amounts of reliable power. It’s the end of the road for an industrialised SA.
Never in our modern industrial history have we been close to this total economic failure. This has only happened in the past 27 years under ANC rule. It is not unprecedented though; in the 1980s, Zimbabwe followed similar polices, leading to an economic meltdown in the early 2000s.
What did the ANC learn from this? Nothing. It brought in aggressive BEE policies and procurement. It unwittingly created an economy based on sand and now it’s collapsing.
As we have seen, the ANC leadership’s pride is too important. They would rather ruin the country than change their policies or look inward.
American Electric Power produces about the same power as Eskom (38,000MW) with a total of 16,000 employees, including 63,000km of transmission lines. Eskom employs 42,000 people.
Andre De Ruyter made a huge mistake when he took the job of CEO by accepting that there would be no retrenchments and that BEE and employment equity would continue. He thought he could work around it, but it’s impossible, a band aid on a gaping wound.
Eskom could get rid of 20,000 people tomorrow and save R15bn a year. But then it’s not about generating cost-effective electricity, is it?
Rob Tiffin, Cape Town
JOIN THE DISCUSSION: Send us an email with your comments to letters@businesslive.co.za. Letters of more than 300 words will be edited for length. Anonymous correspondence will not be published. Writers should include a daytime telephone number.
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