Mbeki accuses Eskom of deliberately engineering load-shedding crisis

Key topics:Mbeki claims Eskom deliberately caused load-shedding for political purposes2008 power cuts allegedly engineered through coal shortages and emergency rulesEnergy shortages threaten economic growth, beneficiation, and future technologies.Sign up for your early morning brew of the BizNews Insider to keep you up to speed with the content that matters. The newsletter will land in your inbox at 5:30am weekdays. Register here.Support South Africa’s bastion of independent journalism, offering balanced insights on investments, business, and the political economy, by joining BizNews Premium. Register here.If you prefer WhatsApp for updates, sign up to the BizNews channel here..Former South African President Thabo Mbeki said Eskom created an artificial electricity crisis from within the organisation, which culminated in load-shedding.He made this accusation during an address at the inaugural conference of the uMkhonto weSizwe Liberation War Veterans.Mbeki discussed the first load shedding South Africa experienced towards the end of 2007 and the start of 2008.“I was the president of the republic at the time. So, when I had to deliver the state of the nation address, I had to apologise to the nation,” he said.He explained that this apology was for the government’s wrongdoing, which caused the national electricity blackouts.However, he only found out later what had really happened. This, Mbeki said, was far more nefarious than what they had initially thought.He explained that Eskom had an internal monitoring system which ensured that all power stations had a coal supply which could last them at least 22 days.“From November 2007, this internal monitoring system started alerting individual power stations that they were running out of coal and should start replenishing,” he said.However, Mbeki said the power station managers ignored the alerts and failed to replenish their coal supplies.“The reason there was a complete power cut in January 2008 is that they ran out of coal deliberately,” Mbeki said. “It was an internally generated crisis.”One immediate consequence was that, under its own rules and regulations, Eskom declared an emergency.One of the things which kicked in was that Eskom suppliers did not have to tender for coal. The price of coal supplies to Eskom doubled overnight.“It was deliberate. It was deliberately caused. I’m saying we apologised in February 2008 in the State of the Nation address because we didn’t know this truth,” he said.Mbeki said the truth emerged in a Special Investigating Unit (SIU) investigation report, which was delivered to the Presidency in 2017.“The SIU said the power cuts of January 2008 were caused internally. The power station managers were warned, but they did not replenish the coal supplies,” he said.“It was a deliberate intervention by the counter-revolution to produce a crisis so that this government fails.”“The crisis at Eskom was not mechanical. It was a political intervention to produce a particular outcome.”.There is not enough energy to grow South Africa’s economy.Later in his speech, Mbeki agreed with Deputy President Paul Mashatile’s view that South Africa must move away from being a primary exporter of raw minerals.Mashatile said the country should prioritise local beneficiation by adding value to raw materials before they are exported.By processing minerals within South African borders, the country can develop a more robust manufacturing sector and create sustainable employment.He has noted that successful beneficiation requires a stable and affordable energy supply through Eskom and efficient logistics through Transnet.Mbeki concurred, saying that ample electricity is a cornerstone of this strategy. “You cannot have beneficiation without electricity,” he said.Mbeki said we are all very happy that Eskom stopped load-shedding. However, this is not enough to support strong economic growth.“If you increase economic growth to 1.5%, we will run out of electricity. The extra capacity to feed a growing economy does not exist,” he said.He said there is a lot of talk about adopting the latest technologies, like artificial intelligence and investing in data centres.However, all of this requires huge amounts of electricity. “If we don’t have the electricity, we can’t do it,” he said.“Eskom does not have the capacity to produce the additional electricity which a growing economy demands.”He argued that Eskom’s shortfall can be addressed relatively quickly to fuel economic growth. “However, this is being blocked,” he said.“We are blocking the capacity of Eskom to increase the generation capacity as quickly as possible to meet demand.”.*This article was originally published by MyBroadband and has been republished with permission.

Mbeki accuses Eskom of deliberately engineering load-shedding crisis

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