Eskom Petition: Minister Brown’s remarks a diversionary tactic

21 January 2016

I have today written to the Minister of Public Enterprises, Lynne Brown, to request a meeting in order to discuss her grossly misleading remarks regarding the DA’s handover of a petition to Eskom CEO, Brian Molefe. The petition was signed by almost 77,000 South Africans and calls on Eskom executives to repay bonuses to the value of R73 million they received since load-shedding commenced in 2008.

The Minister’s attempt to discredit the handover stems from her inability to challenge the facts of the petition, and serve as nothing more than a diversionary tactic to draw attention away from the issue of the continued payment of bonuses.

The Minister suggested that we “gained unlawful entry to the reception by using the entry card of a DA sympathiser,” and in the process “placed the country’s supply of electricity at risk.”

This is laughable at best. The handover was a pre-arranged meeting and took place in an orderly fashion. The Minister need only review the security footage to substantiate this fact. 

The Minister’s transparent attempt at spin comes in the wake of Eskom’s request to the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) for a 17% tariff hike. The Minister and Eskom know full well that public sentiment is against a further increase, a sentiment that is intensified by the attention received by our petition.

Eskom cannot expect to simply pass the buck for its inefficient management over to consumers without practising fiscal restraint and instituting proper cost-containment measures. 

As long as South Africans continue to suffer from the threat of load-shedding, an unstable electricity supply, related job-losses and above inflation electricity tariff hikes, the payment of performance bonuses to Eskom executives cannot be tolerated. 

Issued by Natasha Mazzone, DA Shadow Minister of Public Enterprises, 21 January 2016