Government has been criticised by opposition parties during a snap debate in the National Assembly on the energy crisis and a threat of a protracted failure of Eskom.
The opposition highlighted mismanagement, lack of consequences, looting and corruption as some of the things that they say brought the power utility to the ground.
In its defence the ruling party says there is progress in allowing Eskom to conduct maintenance without electricity interruptions.
The debate takes places when Eskom is implementing loadshedding which is set to continue until next week.
The Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) which sponsored the debate says the power utility has become a national and an international embarrassment since 2007.
The IFP’s Mkhuleko Hlengwa says: “Eskom has become a curse word in every household in our country, Why?… Because this entity is unable to deliver on its fundamental mandate which is to generate enough energy to our national grid. We have to deal with weekly breakdowns and other maintenance related issues.”
Some parties accused the government of moving at a snail’s pace in fixing the challenges facing Eskom.
The DA’s Kevin Mileham says: “Three months outlook indicates a rough road ahead there’s a risk of more loadshedding. Government appears to be in complete denial of the seriousness of the electricity crisis.”
The EFF’s Omphile Maotwe says: “We want Andre De Ruyter to go… . We will not continue to standby and watch the collapse and looting of public strategic assets. The whole lot must go.”
FFPlus MP Wouter Wessels says: “The ANC can destroy and destroys everything they touch. However, there’s one thing the ANC will never ever destroy and that’s the abundance of potential in this country that South Africa possesses…. Potential for the future.”
The ANC defended government saying, there’s progress in eliminating pressure to the national grid.
The ANC’s Mikateko Mahlaule says: “There is progress in the whole scheme of things. Eskom has undergone extensive infrastructural changes over the last couple of years. Loadshedding can be eradicated and the economy will take time to grow. Creating new jobs is something on the cards too. Eskom needs to be fixed like today, everything takes time. Power is crucial and without that we run into more problems.”
In its response the Ministry of Enterprises said government is on a path to fix the power utility, but it will take time.
Minister of Public Enterprises, Pravin Gordhan says: “Is Eskom broken …. No. Or dysfunctional… Eskom is not broken, it is not dysfunctional either, but it does have a crisis. It does have serious challenges and as we said it will take some time to resolve some of them.”
The Minister concluded by saying in ten years time Eskom will be different from the current situation it is in now.
