How much longer is government prepared to give Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter to show he can lead the power utility out of its crisis?
More than two years into the job, De Ruyter has done little to steer the sinking ship back on course. Power supply is worse than ever, as South Africans have been painfully aware over the past two weeks.
Last week, SA reached the depressing milestone of 100 days of load-shedding this year. This was followed by stage 5 on Saturday, quickly topped by stage 6 on Sunday, with a warning that stage 8 was a distinct possibility. During this stage, consumers will be without electricity for an average of 12 hours a day. How does any small business survive that?
Suddenly, South Africans found themselves asking what lies between stage 8 and a total blackout. The scenario is chilling, with De Ruyter previously saying when the grid becomes unstable, power stations automatically disconnect as a safety measure. This can happen “within seconds” and restarting the grid could take two to three weeks.
Eskom has reportedly recorded 99 breakdowns in the past two weeks, with more than half of its electricity generation capacity offline on Monday.
So given the catastrophe SA now finds itself in, when is D-Day for De Ruyter? When does government say sorry, you have failed and your time is up?
A power grid on the verge of total collapse will send whatever remaining prospective investors scurrying elsewhere.
It’s not an easy decision to make. Eskom has had 11 CEOs since 2010. All of them have failed. Some did not have the required level of skill, some were shocked into paralysis at the sheer size of the challenge, others were simply corrupt and just there to loot the kitty.
With President Cyril Ramaphosa going into an ANC election in December, the last thing he will want now is a changing of the guard at Eskom. It will be used by his rivals as a sign that he has failed to address SA’s energy crisis, which he has.
That is not to say the president has not made inroads in correcting SA’s power path. His energy plan, announced in July, is a game changer for SA in terms of private generation and renewable energy. Things are moving in the right direction, with Eskom recruiting “former experienced employees and energy experts” to ensure reliable maintenance.
Public enterprises said on Monday that in the past week alone “18 seasoned energy specialists in power plant operations — some with more than 20 years of experience — have re-entered the Eskom system to assist with operations”.
But Ramaphosa has not moved with the speed he should have, which has left SA scrambling wildly to stave off a national blackout.
The events of the past week strongly suggest SA’s power stations — most of which are on average 40 years old with maintenance backlogs dating back to 2013 — are finally giving up the ghost, sparking a race against time that proper governance would have never have allowed to happen.
The latest electricity disaster comes when we can least afford it. High inflation, interest rates on the verge of going up again, record petrol prices, soaring unemployment and a cost of living crisis means South Africans are battling to survive. A power grid on the verge of total collapse will send whatever remaining prospective investors scurrying elsewhere.
While government has finally moved to make meaningful changes, these will take time to come to fruition. As we wait, Eskom teeters on life support. De Ruyter must take responsibility for this. Not only has he failed to improve output, he has overseen a deterioration in stability of grid. That, in anyone’s language, translates to failure. It is time for him and the Eskom board to go.
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