By: Sello Theletsane
The South African Youth Economic Council (SAYEC) has called for the removal of Eskom chief executive Andre de Ruyter, following the recent announcement by the power utility that it was introducing Stage 6 loadshedding.
SAYEC put the blame for the frequent power outages squarely on “de Ruyter’s lack of competence and oversight at Eskom”.
In a statement the SAYEC said: “It is significant to note that this announcement comes at a time when South Africans are feeling despondent and discouraged owing to a stagnant economy. Blackouts that are rolled out repeatedly make it difficult for our economy to function as huge businesses, industries, and SMMES are not operating at an optimal level, which exacerbates the high rate of unemployment, hunger, and poverty.”
“As a council, we share the frustration and devastation that millions of South Africans experience due to the frequent power outages caused by Andre De Ruyter’s lack of competence and oversight at Eskom.”
“As a council, we argue that Eskom had no prospects to prosper under Andre De Ruyter’s leadership, according to a clear analysis of his career. In just five years, under his supervision, Nampak’s market value decreased from R29 billion to R5 billion. It is rather disturbing that this candidate was tipped to be the right man to rescue Eskom from its problems, given that this represents a terrible 84 percent decline in market value.”
“To give context to our argument that Andre is not fit for purpose, allow us to give out a clear assessment of Andre’s performance at Eskom since his appointment on 15 of January 2020.”
“The levels of loadshedding that we have experienced under his tenure have been more frequent than those of the other executive officers combined.”
“The cost of loadshedding on our economy under his watch accounts for over 50% of the overall/combined cost of loadshedding since its commencement in November 2007.”
“Under de Ruyter’s leadership, Eskom is operating at a sub-optimal level as it has 45 000-Megawatt capacity connected to the grid but is only operating at 30 000-Megawatt.”
“Andre De Ruyter has timely urged for the creation of Independent Power Producers (IPPs) to serve as the primary source of energy supply, replacing the current dependency on Eskom alone. This demonstrates a complete lack of foresight and poor strategic policy direction on the part of the entity’s head, who is tasked with pursuing a turnaround plan to make Eskom sustainable, yet he consistently champions the interests of private companies who are independent power producers.”
“Power plants that are responsible for Eskom’s generation capacity have not been maintained sufficiently and on time.”
SAYEC said the inability to fulfill scheduled maintenance of the power plants largely accounted for the rolling blackouts.
“Eskom continues to procure power from independent power producers at a cost it will not recover from consumers.”
The council said Eskom had stabilize its generation capacity in order to force independent power producers to sell at reasonable and competitive rates.
“In order to address the crisis of energy poverty and loadshedding, our council proposes the following Interventions:
“1. Eskom must be placed under the jurisdiction of the Department of Mineral resources and Energy. It is paradoxical to have an energy department that has no control or jurisdiction over a state-owned power utility. We believe that this will bring stability and certainty.
“2. Eskom must build more power stations and fast-track the completion of Kusile and Medupi in order to ensure that the available demand for electricity is catered for. This must be done without overspending. Eskom must enforce the obligations of contractors. Contractors and those in charge of them cannot have any hidden agreements. Given the age of the majority of its power plants, Eskom cannot function without Medupi and Kusile. But Eskom has acknowledged that it is having trouble determining how to increase investment in the two power plants in order for them to produce the 9 600 megawatts required of them.”
“3. Eskom must take into account the IRP2019 in its turnaround strategy to ensure that ‘energy mix’ must be a method used to end our energy crisis. This plan must encompass nuclear, oil and gas, coal and renewable sources of energy if we are to have cleaner sustainable energy.”
“Lastly and most importantly, Eskom must Appoint a new board and a group of executives of young, competent, skilled professionals with a background in engineering and energy if we are to address the problems at Eskom.”
The council added that it had noted “with concern the claims that Eskom is being deliberately sabotaged as means to give life to the agenda of privatization that will enrich the political elite at the expense of our national objectives and interest”.
“We call on all youth formations, unions and leaders of business to reject this selfish act as it has the potential of destroying our common agenda to build a better South Africa for all. We must not surrender our democratic gains to a group of greedy political elites that have already taken so much from us.”
The council called on Eskom to engage in good faith with the workers “that are demanding for better working conditions”.
“We reject the media propagated attempt to label this form of bargaining action as an act of hooliganism.”
“We will not allow Eskom to use a genuine struggle of workers as a scapegoat for its incompetence. South Africans must not be deceived by this as loadshedding has been the order of the day even before the commencement of this industrial action.”
“Our council is closely studying the legal application lodged by AfriForum against workers for partaking in a protest and should the need arise, we shall engage with various stakeholders to ensure that vulnerable workers are offered the necessary legal support.”
