Power experts’ alarming findings on Eskom should come as no surprise
06 March 2024 - 16:50
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Albeit couched in dry, technical language, in essence the report states that the ANC government and its deployees have no conception of how to run the power system. Our power availability factor hovers around 50%, compared with a global average of almost 80%.
The position is so dire that over the next year or two outside financial and technical experts should be brought in to intervene in key risk areas and procure critical parts. These experts should, during this interim stage, bypass Eskom and report directly to the Treasury.
This exceptional recommendation reveals the depth of our challenges, and the inability of management to address these crises. For example, we run the imminent risk of catastrophic failures due to overstretched water purification plants.
Power station managers lack agency, and their procurement needs are stranded in endless head office committees. If Eskom’s leadership reflects the cadres of the ANC, it is clear that our governing party is in stasis. In a modern industrial state one has to run just to stand still. One must be ever-focused on stress-testing future outcomes, and obsessive about preserving and improving one’s capital plant.
The collapse in 2023 of the dust extraction duct at Kusile (due to the lack of a critical inspection hatch) is inexcusable. This complacent, self-satisfied culture imperils us all.
The SA economy is starting to shrink as the initial goodwill and momentum of 1994 is swallowed up in the static, deadening political culture of the ANC. But culture can change, even within the ANC government and its state-owned enterprises.
Our major political parties must work together to promote a robust, energising, inviting and innovative culture. The report of the German experts outlines how this change of culture can be embodied in a renewed management structure at Eskom.
Willem Cronje 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 Anonymous correspondence will not be published.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: Eskom report — read it and weep
Power experts’ alarming findings on Eskom should come as no surprise
The German coal power experts’ report on Eskom has finally seen the light of day (“Using more load-shedding to end load-shedding”, March 6). It makes for sobering reading.
Albeit couched in dry, technical language, in essence the report states that the ANC government and its deployees have no conception of how to run the power system. Our power availability factor hovers around 50%, compared with a global average of almost 80%.
The position is so dire that over the next year or two outside financial and technical experts should be brought in to intervene in key risk areas and procure critical parts. These experts should, during this interim stage, bypass Eskom and report directly to the Treasury.
This exceptional recommendation reveals the depth of our challenges, and the inability of management to address these crises. For example, we run the imminent risk of catastrophic failures due to overstretched water purification plants.
Power station managers lack agency, and their procurement needs are stranded in endless head office committees. If Eskom’s leadership reflects the cadres of the ANC, it is clear that our governing party is in stasis. In a modern industrial state one has to run just to stand still. One must be ever-focused on stress-testing future outcomes, and obsessive about preserving and improving one’s capital plant.
The collapse in 2023 of the dust extraction duct at Kusile (due to the lack of a critical inspection hatch) is inexcusable. This complacent, self-satisfied culture imperils us all.
The SA economy is starting to shrink as the initial goodwill and momentum of 1994 is swallowed up in the static, deadening political culture of the ANC. But culture can change, even within the ANC government and its state-owned enterprises.
Our major political parties must work together to promote a robust, energising, inviting and innovative culture. The report of the German experts outlines how this change of culture can be embodied in a renewed management structure at Eskom.
Willem Cronje
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.
EDITORIAL: Using more load-shedding to end load-shedding
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EDITORIAL: Using more load-shedding to end load-shedding
Published by Arena Holdings and distributed with the Financial Mail on the last Thursday of every month except December and January.