Durban - Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma yesterday called on Eskom to be transparent about why it was lurching from one crisis to the next.
On Sunday the power utility’s CEO André de Ruyter said Stage 6 load shedding had been implemented as the system had been under pressure last week as Kriel unit 2 had tripped and Kusile unit 3 was coming back from a submerged scraper chain failure.
By late yesterday, Eskom announced that load shedding would move to Stage 5 at midnight, saying units at Camden, Kriel, Kusile and Kendal had been returned to service, although a unit at Duvha had developed a boiler tube leak.
Dlamini Zuma, who was speaking at the Good Governance & Accountability Seminar that took place at the Durban International Convention Centre yesterday, said the country had emerged from the Covid-19 crisis but the Eskom crisis was similar in that it had a devastating impact on the country’s economy.
“We need a proper diagnosis of what is wrong at Eskom. If it is a matter of skills that is lacking, then we should be throwing expertise at Eskom. If it is maintenance-related, then we must identify the issues and fix it.”
Dlamini Zuma acknowledged that she was not the minister in charge of Eskom but said that there was no clarity on what was wrong and unless these issues were identified, there was no way to fix the problems.
“If it is an expertise issue then let’s ask engineers to assist, even if it is for a short term. If there are maintenance issues, then they must get people to put a timetable together so we can resolve the problems.”
She said the current state of energy affairs could not be sugar-coated and Stage 6 load shedding is a crisis.
“I am glad the President (Cyril Ramaphosa) is returning to the country because this is a crisis, but what happens next is important.”
She said the country’s manufacturing sector and South Africans deserve reliable and affordable energy.
“The current rolling black outs, which have been classified as ‘load shedding’, are a great threat to the economy and the people of South Africa.
“This means that vigorous private investment must complement state action to improve people’s lives and sustain progress.
“This must also address the State’s capacity to plan, manage and maintain its programmes and infrastructure.”
DA MP Kevin Mileham said Eskom’s plant performance had continued to deteriorate substantially in the past week, confirming a power plant maintenance plan that is in crisis.
He said the party had warned Ramaphosa that his energy response plan had veered off track “due to an ineffective National Electricity Crisis Committee (NECC)”.
“Now that it has become clear that sub-contracting the implementation of the Energy Response Plan to his NECC was a bad idea to begin with and little traction has been made, Ramaphosa should take active control of the implementation process and ensure timely delivery of the plan’s short-term targets to plug the electricity supply gap.
“Better still, as we have repeatedly said, declare a ring-fenced state of disaster around the beleaguered entity.”
Mileham said the country needed to be provided with more information on the plan, including the recruitment or rehiring of experienced former Eskom staff, procurement of electricity from neighbouring countries, the plan to eliminate sabotage, theft and fraud at Eskom, and National Treasury’s plan to expand tax incentives for residential and commercial installations, which is still pending.
“Eskom’s failure to provide a reliable supply of electricity makes the 32% tariff increase application to Nersa (National Energy Regulator of South Africa) simply out of touch with reality. The DA reiterates its call that Eskom should not be rewarded for keeping South Africans in the dark.”
Good MP Brett Herron said that in July, Ramaphosa announced priorities, including improving plant performance, establishing a competitive electricity market, attracting private investment in new generation capacity, increasing investments in renewables and cutting red tape.
“Critically, he promised that Eskom would, ‘over the next three months’ add new generation capacity to the grid on an urgent basis, and, ‘as an immediate measure’, buy surplus capacity from existing independent power producers.
“Given that the president is returning early from his overseas travels, his schedule should allow for him to call a ‘family meeting’ to inform South
Africans of progress,” said Herron, adding that this should be the first of regular meetings.