Go private, go green – Worldview on Eskom

LONDON — In overseas media coverage of South Africa, we receive regular reminders that Eskom could be the entity that pulls the economy into a black hole. The Government has revealed its plans to resurrect the power supplier, but it is facing fierce opposition from labour unions fearing that job losses and privatisation will be the result from the plan to split Eskom in three. British publication, the Economist is weighing in with a recommendation to Ramaphosa to embrace independent producers and clean power. Ramaphosa should face down the unions who are against privatisation; if he doesn't the future could be dark.. – Linda van Tilburg

By Thulasizwe Sithole

The Economist went to the control room of Scatec Solar in Cape Town remarking that the company which runs 16 solar plants in 11 countries experiences few problems and when they occur, the errors are minor. In South Africa, the company has three solar power stations that service 93,000 homes. Compare this to South Africa's state-owned utility Eskom, where rolling blackouts occurred in March as the national power supplier failed to meet demand. During this period Eskom regularly took "4,000 megawatts off the grid – about one-eleventh of its total capacity" of just over 45,000MW. A third of Eskom power stations "are broken or shut for maintenance."

Goldman Sachs Sub-Saharan African head, Colin Coleman has warned that Eskom "is the greatest systemic risk to the South African economy." He has warned that the power blackouts can reduce the country's GDP growth by 0.9%. The Economist warns that the bail-outs to Eskom by the Government would continue and that the electorate who will be going to the polls on 8 May to elect new members of Parliament would not take kindly to "voting in darkness."

The predicament that Eskom find itself in has several roots:

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