EFF STATEMENT ON ESKOM R20.5 BILLION NET LOSS OF A FINANCIAL YEAR THAT ENDED IN MARCH 2020

Saturday, 31 October 2020

The EFF notes the announcement by Eskom of its results for the financial year that ended in March 2020, which shows that Eskom suffered losses of more than R20 billion. The EFF is not shocked by the shambolic performance as Eskom is currently led by people who have demonstrated in their previous capacity that they have neither the capacity nor sophistication to manage the complex institution. The white CEO and COO of Eskom are incompetent, and their incompetence is not spoken about because white-owned media only see incompetence when it is black executives.

The EFF further notes that the management of Eskom has gone to claim easy and misguided victories that are only evident to them and their handlers. All key indicators show that the institution has continued to deteriorate. Load shedding is continuing in different parts of South Africa as workers, and the poor wake up or come back from work to homes without electricity in a racially biased application of load shedding.

Sale of electricity has gone down by 1.3%, the amount that is owed to Eskom by municipalities has increased to R28 billion and Eskom total debt has increased to unsustainable R484 billion. All these are clear indications that the easy victories are nothing by self-praise to be believed by fools.

Eskom continues to increase its dependence on Independent Power Producers (IPPs) despite a decline in sales as a result of incompetence and mismanagement of the economy by the ruling party. The cost of energy purchased from IPPs has increased from R26.7 billion to R29.7 billion despite the fact that Eskom is selling less and less electricity. Purchasing Power Agreements signed at outrageous costs and passed on to consumers remain a stranglehold that is as a result of greed and corruption.

There is sufficient evidence to show that the incompetence gang running Eskom under the leadership of the cabal is misleading the nation with reports that things are getting better at Eskom. The EFF rejects these falsehoods peddled as gospel truth.

The only progress they are making is dismantling and disposing of public assets to their cronies as the privatization of Eskom is a priority for Cyril Ramaphosa to reward his handlers who contributed to CR17. The EFF calls on the resignation of the incompetent Minister of Public Enterprises Jamnandas Gordhan, CEO of Eskom and the entire management with immediate effect.

Statement issued by the EFF, 31 October 2020