LETTERS: Who will step up for poisoned Eskom chalice?

It’s a pity the poisoning of André de Ruyter on December 13 was only reported to the police on January 5 (“De Ruyter assassination attempt shows the ‘battle for SA’, says Gordhan”, January 8). Lots of time to dispose of evidence, though it shouldn’t be difficult to identify who supplied his morning cuppa.

This incident, with last week’s attempted assassination of Fort Hare vice-chancellor Sakhela Buhlungu, in which his security guard was killed, puts ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa’s January 8 statement promises into perspective.

Load-shedding soon to be a thing of the past? By end-March most of the top team at Eskom will be gone, happy just to be alive. Finding replacements will impart new meaning to the term “poisoned chalice”.

Apart possibly from a hero with a terminal health condition, the only likely applicants are those who have no intention of rocking the boat, be it applying for a diesel import licence, cutting off nonpaying municipalities, or collaring rock-carrying coal trucks. As such, there isn’t the slightest hope that Eskom’s performance will improve.

Likewise, the blatant assassination attempt on Buhlungu shows that as far as law and order is concerned SA is still careening down the proverbial road to hell. So, despite all of Ramaphosa’s protestations to the contrary, it is very much a case of buckle up as 2023 will be a bumpy ride for us all.

James Cunningham
Camps Bay

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