The term "war room" stirred hope in the most sceptical and weary of us when it was coined as part of a new attempt at getting Eskom back to fighting fitness.
It sounded like the seriousness of the power deficit threat to our country was finally being understood and would be combated with military discipline and strategy. It had a Churchillian or Castro-esque ring to it, depending on your bent.
Alas, it seems our war room is full of tin-pot generals who have little idea about what's happening on the battlefield. Indeed, guerrilla skirmishes are being fought in the war room itself, with petty power plays among the cadres deployed to it.
The upshot is that there's no military precision at all.
One example: last week Eskom announced a Stage2 round of load-shedding to a few media outlets but neglected to update its own website.
Millions who had been promised better info about power cuts were let down.
Poor communications have inevitably spawned speculation and rumour, such as that secretive "shadow load-shedding" is being implemented - with areas blacked out for up to 12 hours and vague explanations about sub-station fires and cable theft.
Such chatter was fuelled when it was confirmed that Eskom had staged a secret simulation last week to test how its systems would handle a nationwide blackout. By any reckoning this was an important development. The exercise went beyond what is routinely tested and indicated a real fear that a catastrophe was a distinct possibility.
But war room commander Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa knew nothing whatsoever about it, he told the National Council of Provinces. What else does he not know about Eskom's shenanigans?
And who dreamed up its codename - Exercise Breaking Dawn?
It might be amusing if it weren't so sinister. Breaking Dawn is the title of one of The Twilight Saga novels and movies. And if the twilight reference was cynical, how about the fact these stories are all about vampires?
Perhaps the war room generals need to start sharpening some stout wooden stakes to hammer through the hearts of the fiends scaring the living daylights out of us.
