Eskom: CEO's briefing inspires no confidence 

08 December 2014

The media briefing today by Eskom's CEO, Mr Tshediso Matona, inspires no confidence that the true nature of the problems facing Eskom are being addressed. The basic take away from the briefing was that power outages are here and here to stay; and that there is not much to be done (see here - PDF). 

The current situation at Eskom is damaging to our economy and South African families who have to structure their daily lives around Eskom's load shedding schedule. It is simply shocking that President Zuma and Public Enterprise Minister, Lynne Brown, are missing in action while the country's economy is in turmoil.

The DA will therefore tomorrow hand over a list of demands on the load shedding crisis to the Department of Public Enterprises.

South Africa needs an urgent response to ensure that the lights stay on, but that also makes provision for the long term sustainability of our electricity generation capacity. 

Load shedding is jeopardising countless jobs, and it cannot be tolerated this casually. It is shameful that South Africans are now expected to deal with load shedding as if it were unforeseen and inevitable. The ANC government, through mismanagement and failure to plan ahead, have brought us to this point. 

For the good of our nation's economy and its capacity to sustain our people's livelihoods, we will submit demands to ensure a constant uninterrupted supply of electricity. 

Statement issued by Natasha Michael MP, DA Shadow Minister Public Enterprises, December 8 2014

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