Eskom is dead: DA calls on all South Africans to join nationwide campaign

11 March 2020

Note to Editors: The following comments were delivered today at a press conference at Parliament. The DA Shadow Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy, Kevin Mileham MP, spoke on the energy sector and IPPs. The DA Shadow Minister of Public Enterprises, Ghaleb Cachalia MP, spoke on Eskom and the DA's demands. 

Introduction

It has been nearly a month since President Cyril Ramaphosa made a host of promises in his SONA speech to ensure energy security for South Africans. Yet nothing has changed. In fact, things have only gotten progressively worse. Within the space of just 48 hours - the country has gone from no loadshedding to Stage 1 and 2, and today we have leapt to stage 4 rolling blackouts.

The President is at the precipice, and he has two choices - either he continues to drag the nation down with Eskom, or he takes the bold action, stands up to the unions and internal ANC factions, and do the right thing to break Eskom's monopoly.

The impact of Eskom's rolling blackouts has had detrimental consequences on our economy. Small businesses are closing their doors and jobs are being shed. We need change, and we need it now.

Eskom is dead

Eskom is dead. It is time that the ANC government accepts the fact that no amount of bailouts and turnaround strategies will save the power utility.

We can no longer waste public money on pointless attempts to save a lost cause. Eskom has R450 billion in debt and poses the single biggest risk to our economy.

The entity is in its death spiral, and South Africa needs to look at a future beyond Eskom towards an electricity future that focuses on achieving energy security through alternative sources.

How did we get here?

It is no secret that South Africa's electricity crisis has largely been compounded by the fact that Eskom has a monopolistic grip over the energy sector. The energy crises, has, however, also been further compounded by four issues: corruption, dithering, ANC ideology, and unions.

The severe maladministration, corruption and years of state capture at Eskom and critical government departments, responsible for energy security, has resulted in the complete disintegration of the management of our energy resources and infrastructure. Eskom's power stations are especially vulnerable due to a lack of qualified technicians, shoddy infrastructure and years of neglect.

As mentioned earlier, during his SONA speech, the President announced that section 34 determinations would be issued shortly to rapidly and significantly increase generation capacity; and that his government would work to open bid window 5 of the renewable energy independent power producers (IPPs). This has not happened.

The ANC's ideological inconsistencies and mad ideas have stagnated energy diversification and security in South Africa. While some have called for a more open energy sector, others want the sector to be centralised.

The influence of the ANC's tripartite partners, especially trade unions, cannot be underscored. Unions have wrongfully propagated that privatisation in the energy sector would result in retrenchments. The truth, of course, is that union leaders have their own narrow interests at play.

In reality, energy experts agree that any new generation capacity must (at least in the short to medium term) come from the private sector. The DA has proposed the Independent Electricity Management Operator Bill. This Bill is currently before the Portfolio Committee on Mineral Resources and Energy and would open up South Africa's electricity supply sector and make it more competitive. It would allow IPPs to compete on an equal footing with Eskom.

When the DA says we should put politics aside, we mean it and we are willing to reach across the political divide and work with other parties to ensure that this Bill gets passed.

DA demands

Energy security in South Africa is possible without having to rely on Eskom. Eskom is dead, and South Africa needs to move forward, the DA, therefore, puts forward the following proposals:

The President should seriously consider Minister Mantashe's future as Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy as it is evident that he has no interest in ensuring an energy diverse South Africa. He is a major stumbling block, continues to delay important steps to ensure energy security and is sitting on his hands.

Eskom, in its current form, is unsustainable and an endless money pit. The DA strengthens our call for Eskom to be split into two entities with the eye on partial or full privatisation.

We have written into our 2020/21 national budget proposal real tangible incentives for homeowners to install solar systems by offering up to R75 000 in a tax rebate for every home, to reduce reliance on Eskom. The ANC must support these proposals.

We also call for zero-rating of VAT on LED light bulbs and energy-efficient appliances, making these cheaper than electricity-guzzling ones.

Immediately, Minister Mantashe must allow municipalities to obtain extra electricity from IPPs, reducing reliance on Eskom. Nothing is stopping Minister Mantashe from kickstarting this process.

The City of Cape Town has a court case pending against the Minister of Energy which seeks to force him to approve this, yet he continues to inexplicably oppose this court case. The DA is calling on the Minister to drop this case and set a precedent.

Finally, we call on the ANC government to join the DA in opposing Cosatu's mad idea to use pension funds to bail out Eskom.

 DA Campaign

South Africa's future hangs in the balance, and one way to stop our decline is to cut Eskom loose. It is for this reason that the DA this week began a nationwide effort to free South Africans from Eskom. This is a broad and intensive program of resident and citizen engagement - both about the daily struggles that electricity shortages are causing and to dissect our plan to free South Africans from Eskom.

DA councillors and members of provincial legislatures and Parliament will lead intensive engagement efforts in every community around South Africa. They will visit every corner of South Africa to rally support for our demands and our plan to give power to the people. Once we have the full support of all South Africans for our plan and demands, we will take our fight to the President.

We call on all South Africans to join our campaign to fight for energy security and to free our nation from Eskom's grip.

Issued by Kevin Mileham and GhalebCachalia, DA, 11 March 2020