LETTER: Eskom has a culture problem

Every time we hear about another state entity or government department collapsing into dysfunction, we check out the effect on our lives. So, what if the SA Air Force can’t fly any planes, or the navy’s ships can’t sail? There’s no direct effect on me.

When Metrorail trains stopped running the taxis moved in; when Transnet Freight Rail failed the trucks took over. But with Eskom there is nowhere to hide. People with money can get off the grid, at a cost, but factories and mines require huge amounts of reliable power. It is the end of the road for industrialised SA.

We are now limping along. Eskom has a culture problem, with unskilled, corrupt staff with a poor work ethic, ineffective management and a huge overhead of redundant staff. It should be able to function with about 16,000 staff. Now Eskom is just a place where 38,000 people go every day to get paid. It is dysfunctional and has been for years, yet its employees still demand a 15% increase.

Yes, there are still some good people, but they are essentially disempowered and fighting against a rising tide of inefficiency and hopelessness. De Ruyter tried and got nowhere, because it is impossible to change the culture, the corruption, the special interests, the politics, the government-embraced social experiment.

We need to immediately take our three newer inefficient power stations — Tutuka (27%), Majuba (48%) and Kendal (47%) — and concession them out to private operators, as recommended by the finance minister. This will allow effective management to take over with a clean sheet without any of the above legacy issues and give the economy some breathing space.

Rob Tiffin
Cape Town

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