IN QUOTES | President Cyril Ramaphosa on Eskom 'sabotage', wet coal and promises

President Cyril Ramaphosa briefed the media on Wednesday after a meeting with public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan and Eskom board chairperson Jabu Mabuza.

Ramaphosa said there had been possible acts of sabotage that led to recent load-shedding and that he had instructed it be investigated as it had led to a loss of 2,000MW of electricity.

Here are six quotes from his briefing:

Wet coal

“The sabotage happened in a way where we lost 2,000MW. The wet coal led to a loss of additional megawatts. All that was a combination. Sabotage is not the only factor that led to load-shedding.”

Accountability

“Investigations are under way and I’ve urged management to speed up those investigations so that those who are found to have participated in this act of sabotage are held to account.”

Eskom working with SAPS

“We will investigate the sabotage. Eskom will work with SAPS and the intelligence agency as well to find out exactly how anyone within Eskom could have disconnected the instrument that led to the loss of 2,000MW.”

No leave for managers and executives

“We also felt that there needed to be more accountability at management level. I have instructed all managers and executives that all leave is cancelled. No one is going on leave from now until January. All key managers must remain to ensure that we have no load-shedding.”

Blame-shifting

“There should not be blame-shifting. People should own up when they have not done what they needed to do. We want management to be much more proactive.”

No dark Christmas

“We have been assured by the management that they are going to stabilise the system and that there will be no power cuts. It will not be a dark Christmas.”