'Train has not yet left the tracks'

Business Unity South Africa CEO Khanyisile Kweyama says a possible collapse of the national electricity grid "is always at the back of our minds".

Kweyama says at this point that possibility seems unlikely - but only thanks to the work of a task team put in place last year to manage the Eskom crisis.

"We are not saying there is going to be a collapse in the next week or month, but that is because we are part of the process."

She says the task team's participation was meant to ensure that such a collapse does not happen.

Although business is clearly unhappy with the fact that four Eskom executives were suspended last week without warning or proper explanation, Kweyama says she does not believe these suspensions will disrupt the work of the task team.

"They are not the people who were hands-on. The agenda of the task team will continue," she says.

But Kweyama does warn that if the suspensions and the independent investigation announced by Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown are a sign that a "new plan" is going to be put on the table, this would be a major concern - and business would like to know about it in advance.

"We'd want to be very vocal about whether we think it will work or not," she says.

Meanwhile, "as long as the [task team] process continues and we continue meeting with those involved in the day-to-day running of Eskom, then we feel the train has not left the tracks yet".