Johannesburg - ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe says the crisis afflicting Eskom is not a catastrophe, but “a positive crisis”.
He said this was because many people had now been connected to the power grid than previously, unlike during the successive white regimes over 100 years.
“The crisis at Eskom is a positive crisis, that’s my view. In 100 years, various white regimes connected 5 million households. Over 20 years, we (ANC-led government) connected 7 million households,” Mantashe said on Monday, addressing a post-ANC national executive committee meeting in Johannesburg.
He reiterated that part of Eskom’s crisis was caused by the fact the economy continued to grow, “however moderate”, it did.
“That in itself puts pressure on the (power) generation capacity. The solution for that crisis is not about instant solutions that we must manufacture to appease society,” he said, in a veiled attack on the DA for demanding the privatisation of Eskom.
He added: “So to us we have a crisis, but we have a positive crisis. It’s not a catastrophe which many people want us to say…
“You must be able to say we can only resolve that problem by accelerating the grid problem. Take Medupi, commission Kusile (and) Ingula power stations. If we commission (these power stations), half the problem will be resolved.”
He said there was already a need for South Africa to build additional energy-generation capacity.
Mantashe denied that the crises gripping the state-owned enterprises and the law enforcement agencies were a result of the ANC’s policy of cadre deployment.
He said the ANC did not discuss the operations of the institutions.
“Whether it is the NPA (National Prosecuting Authority), whether it is the heads of the various institutions, whether it is the operational issues of Eskom, we don’t do that. If we do that, I can tell you we will have more questions to answer, (including) how competent we are to run the power utility, and we will be found wanting.”
Mantashe said that what the ANC deliberated on was to request ANC members to improve the performances of the entities they were deployed in, so that it did not reflect a bad picture of the party.
“The fights in this SABC board, disagreements with the interpretation of the company acts, if you have to deal with that issue, please accelerate solutions in that issue.”
The Star