Johannesburg - ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe has denied that the party wants the government to privatise Eskom, but said the ANC was considering alternative models to solving South Africa’s energy crisis.
“Eskom is a state-owned entity, there is no privatisation,” he said on Sunday.
The ANC’s top leaders have contradicted each other on the future of the cash-strapped power utility.
Mantashe’s statements contradicted those of ANC head of economic transformation Enoch Godongwana, who last week maintained that an ANC lekgotla last year had decided to sell parts of Eskom.
Mantashe seemed to contradict himself on partial privatisation when he suggested that the ANC was considering what would effectively see the government selling parts of Eskom. This would effectively result in a partial privatisation of Eskom.
“If there is a debate within the ANC itself on whether we should not look into the China option, that debate is there. And the China option is simple. You know China has capitalised many of its state enterprises by listing 30 percent or 40 percent, and 60 percent, (you) retain it,” he said.
“The Chinese option is where they take a portion of a state-owned enterprise and list it, but still keep the controlling stake of that institution.”
Experts have warned that South Africans would probably have electricity shortages for up to five years. The costs are enormous – in money, economic growth and a negative effect on business confidence too. Technology innovation would also be affected.
As the country grapples with its power shortages, it appears that the government might look to China for solutions.
Mantashe said: “We think it can work better with us, rather than the privatisation that was promoted when the new liberal ideology was on the rise.
“China succeeded in changing Lenovo into a world-beating technological enterprise by merging with IBM and refining its technology. That is what we are looking at. If you call it privatisation, you are choosing an ideological path that is not in the discussions. You retain it and capitalise the entity.”
Mantashe said the ANC was aware that solving the power crisis was a daunting task.
“We don’t have a simplistic view on how load shedding can be eliminated and that there is (Eskom chief executive) Brian Molefe who will come with magic of eliminating load shedding,” he said. “The solution is increasing the connected electricity supply.”
He admitted again that part of the crisis came about because the ANC-led government had been slow in building new power stations.
“We always own up to the fact that the build programme was started later than it should have been.”
The Star