Eskom in Pictures: No denying ANC’s blame. Corruption or incompetence?
We're indebted to Krzysztof E. Wojciechowicz, former Director Statistical Analysis at the DTI, for the two images below from official data that tell us everything we need about the reason for SA's electricity supply tragedy. Another case of pictures explaining more than thousands of words.
Mr Wojciechowicz writes: "So many words have been wasted in the debate between the Electricity Minister and De Ruyter. It's so easy to present it graphically.
"The left hand graph shows investments in electricity infrastructure between 1946 and 2022 at constant prices (gas & water represents a minor percentage of total).
"The green line shows the date of the ANC takeover of South Africa, ie in 1994. At that point Eskom had excess production capacity of over 40%, which allowed for the increase in electricity generation until 2007.
"It was only in that year (Red Line) that the ANC woke up and realised additional electricity generation requires fresh investments.
"Then the inverse of an economic miracle happened. Despite billions spent on new "investments", Eskom's electricity production started a continuous downhill trend. If it wasn't due to corruption, was it incompetence? Which is worse?"
It's time South Africans made those responsible bear the consequences of actions that plunged the nation back to where it was a century ago. After all, it's impossible for any economy to participate in a 4IR Age without first cementing its Second Industrial Revolution (electricity).
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