While South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa was inside Westminster Abbey attending Queen Elizabeth’s state funeral on Monday afternoon, his spokesperson Vincent Magwenya was trying to place out fires again at residence.
Magwenya informed me on The Midday Report what the President’s thought course of was in deciding to return residence from his abroad journey prematurely to handle the ability disaster.
He was at pains to guarantee the nation that that is in truth being handled as a disaster, that it requires a way of urgency and high-level involvement and determination making, and that the President is eager to steer the instant decision himself.
“There is a sense of acknowledgment, appreciation, and anxiety that we need to come out of this situation. There is also a sense of frustration,” stated Magwenya. “We need to start doing things differently. We need to get ourselves out of the bureaucracy and red tape.”
But what is going to that ‘different’ seem like? Will or not it’s some type of drastic motion being taken? Will it imply he’ll fireplace somebody and there might be accountability?
“You are not going to get more of the same. He is going to be demanding more drastic action… The President wants solutions to deal with the immediate crisis. The President will be looking at some kind of accountability,” the spokesperson alluded.
Notable is using phrases similar to “we need to”, “he is going to be”, “is keen to” – all future tense.
But after speeding residence to attend what we assumed was a particular cupboard assembly, an announcement was put out on Wednesday night time that was ineffectual, tepid, and weak.
In it, we have been informed, a ‘scheduled virtual meeting’ was held, Cabinet ‘expressed regret’ about load shedding, and that it was ‘still deliberating’ on stories introduced by the Public Enterprises Minister and the Technical Committee of the National Energy Crisis Committee.
Hardly sufficient to encourage and guarantee a nation ready for solutions and determined for accountability.
It’s too late for what may have been completed prior to now. Nevermind that there have been purple flags since ‘that’ white paper in 1998 that warned authorities a couple of potential looming energy disaster, and the necessity for brand new procurement.
The authorities delayed and it was solely in 2007 that the choice was taken to construct Medupi and Kusile and people builds have been beset by issues. Then got here the state seize years and everyone knows full effectively by now what that entailed – upkeep was uncared for, and in an try and keep away from load shedding, Eskom’s management ran crops into the bottom.
The Integrated Resource Plan (IRP), the federal government’s official emergency coverage, which was printed in 2019, is now three years previous, old-fashioned, and inadequate.
Government has dragged its ft and has been dilly-dallying. And now we’re down the creek and not using a paddle or any energy.
Ramaphosa’s large electrical energy speech to the nation in July was met with applause from most stakeholders and it was actually a step in the proper path. According to stories this week there was progress, no less than, behind the scenes. Much of that is to do with lowering regulatory restrictions and easing personal energy manufacturing which is crucial to minimize the burden on Eskom.
“The plan is centred on making it quicker and easier for private producers to generate their own energy. On 25 July, Ramaphosa said the plan would improve Eskom’s performance, procure more new generation capacity, “massively” increase private investment in generation, and enable businesses and households to invest in rooftop solar,” wrote Carol Paton earlier this week.
But there just doesn’t seem like the required urgency.
In his weekly e-newsletter on Tuesday, Ramaphosa addressed the necessity to overcome the electrical energy disaster to be able to make our financial system extra aggressive and extra enticing to traders.
“The severe load shedding of the last few days has reminded us how unstable our ageing power stations are. It has given greater urgency to the measures we announced two months ago to stabilise our electricity supply… Solving the electricity crisis is necessary if we are to realise the potential of our economy.”
Did we’d like reminding?
It’s merely now not sufficient for the President to apologise, to lament, to ship platitudes. If he’s promising us accountability then let’s see it. There have been numerous calls from political events this week for heads to roll – the DA desires motion to be taken towards Minister Gwede Mantashe. The EFF desires the Eskom board to get replaced.
The President has expressed confidence in Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter so he’s unlikely to be the autumn man. What Eskom wants now greater than something is stability in its management as they try and proper the ship.
The President can also be unlikely to maneuver towards Mantashe within the midst of an ANC election battle. We are three months away from the ruling celebration’s elective convention and Mantashe is touted to be elected as ANC Chairperson. There could be huge political fallout for Ramaphosa inside his personal celebration if he have been to fireside him. This would imply, but once more, that Ramaphosa is selecting celebration over state.
If the President really acknowledges the deep frustration and anger inside the nation and if he desires to do issues ‘differently’ as promised, then he wants to indicate us that he means it. He has to display that in a a lot bolder manner than what we’ve got seen to date. A lukewarm assertion expressing remorse just isn’t going to chop it.
Mandy Wiener is the host of The Midday Report on 702 and CapeTalk, and a seasoned journalist and writer.