Heads must roll

[Chatmaster]

OK, so I have been thinking about the reaction from government and Eskom about the current situation. Both parties avoid taking serious responsibility for the current state of affairs. Both simply state that we are in this position and need to look forward to fix it.

My take is the following. The same government is in power and the then minister responsible is now our dep. president. Why has there been no action taken by Thabo Mbeki until now? How on earth can people that has been so idiotic still be involved in carrying the responsibility their positions do carry?

The same goes for Eskom. They told government about the state of affairs for the past 10 years, but did nothing more to inform us (Thabo's bosses) about the gross negligence on their part. Instead they told us all a bunch of lies last year, whilst sitting back and watching the clock tick on the bomb. How on earth can we trust any of these individuals, if they are clearly incompetent? Seriously, how on earth can incompetent people be expected to fix this then?

I want to see heads roll, and be assured that they will be replaced by people that are competent. How do you feel about this, given, I am angry that this is costing me a fortune, but doesn't it make sense given the seriousness of the situation?

[Dave A]

At least somebody needs to lose their job!

It'll be a scapegoat - but that's the way these things go. If nobody loses their job - well let's wait and see before I say much more.

[IanF]

I vote for our President Mbeki to go. Surely that is where the buck stops. Lets ask JZ to do it.

[duncan drennan]

I came across an announcement from May 2005 (google for "eskom energy crisis", it is the first result!).

Energy Minister dismisses energy crisis claims

Minerals and Energy Minister Phumzile Mlambo-Ncquka last week emphasised that there, “is no power-generation capacity crisis� in South Africa.

During her Budget Vote speech to Parliament, the Minister said that, while there was a decrease in surplus capacity, measures were being taken to improve the country’s power-generation capabilities before demand exceeded capacity. The programme to increase power capacity was progressing well and Eskom was on track to bring a further 3 000 MW onstream from the return to service of mothballed power stations, she said.

Further, a tender process had begun for the procurement of 1 000 MW through independent power producers, scheduled for commissioning in 2008.

A number of other feasibility studies were under way for future power development opportunities, with a focus on renewable and environment-friendly energy sources.

An energy-efficiency strategy had also been drawn up, which set targets to be achieved by 2014.

[Dave A]

lol - on the Eskom website too.

Reckon they were making sure there was a record of the statement?

[Chatmaster]

In my opinion that doesn't get Eskom of the hook. They still lied last year and also we as the public was not informed of the true state of our electricity.

This mentality that the government is acting like they are royalty is bs, they report to us and are only our employees imo it is time entities like Eskom get that through their sculls as well.

[Dave A]

Some of the people in the firing line.

Public enterprises minister Alec Erwin and Eskom chief executive Jacob Maroga have received an avalanche of criticism over the way they have handled the energy crisis and the manner in which it has affected the mining industry.

Democratic Alliance minerals and energy spokesperson Hendrik Schmidt said the lack of political accountability was the biggest problem.

While deputy president Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, the former minister of minerals and energy, had apologised for the government underestimating economic growth, Schmidt said both Erwin and his predecessor as public enterprises minister, transport minister Jeff Radebe, should resign.

"It would be the honourable thing to do."

Maroga told a media conference on Friday morning that he was "not aware" of mines being closed even though a letter - allegedly in Maroga's name - was sent out the previous night advising of necessary shutdowns. The letter said key industrial consumers had to reduce their power loads to minimum levels.

Freedom Front Plus leader Pieter Mulder said it was "really astonishing" that there had not been thorough consultation behind the scenes before Maroga appeared at the press conference. "It has unbelievable consequences. It is very short-sighted. They [Eskom] don't seem to have any idea of the international perceptions and implications."

Mulder said the government had told journalists that Botswana would no longer receive power when this message had apparently not even been conveyed to that country's government. "We will take a hammering from international investors," he said.
full story from Business Report here

But no sign of anyone's head rolling as yet.

Clearly, whilst everyone else sees a major problem, for the ANC this is merely the inconvenient price of "progress"

[IanF]

Having just watched Carte Blanche the senior management in ESKOM should go. The idiot from Eskom could not give a straight answer as to whether they were exporting power. It seems as Eskom screwed the BEE transporters of coal so they have none. No coal means no power. They should all go.

[murdock]

well it looks looks like zuma and his band of merry comrades will get their glory.

[Dave A]

Having just watched Carte Blanche the senior management in ESKOM should go.

I didn't watch Carte Blanche last night, but I've just had a detailed account of it and by the sounds of things, you are so right.

The bottleneck, it seems, is getting the coal from the mines to the power station. The blackouts are because the power stations do not have enough coal on hand to burn!

[Chatmaster]

Does anyone have more info on the Carte Blanche program. I also missed it.

[IanF]

Carte Blanche

The link is Carte Blanche Transcript One of the most comprehensive reports to come on this issue.
Here is a telling part:
"The current spate of blackouts started on Monday, 14 January and is still ongoing. The public has been told that it's due to a high consumer demand.

Or is the truth actually that Eskom's power production has reached an all time low?

This confidential report shows just that. On the 1 February last year - during the maintenance cycle - Eskom's output was more than 32 000mW. But this Thursday it spiralled to a debilitating low of 27 000mW.

When you examine this page, the reason becomes obvious. All these units were out of service.

The total capacity loss was over 9 000mW - enough to power three cities the size of Johannesburg.

Steve: 'We have unplanned outages. That is something that has been increasing slightly lately. Although the incidents of unplanned outages of Eskom plants is still very, very good when we compare it to international benchmarks.'"

[Dave A]

Thanks, Ian. I'm reading it now. Hot stuff!

I just got to the bit that had my bud fuming this morning:

Derek: 'But you have got less than half of the staff you had 15 years ago?'

Steve: 'Yes, and that just shows how inefficient Eskom was 15 years ago.'

Derek: 'But at least they were producing enough power. They had an excess capacity.'

Steve: 'They had an excess capacity and you can argue that: is an excess capacity better than a shortage? Both of them are negative.'

F'in asshole

[Dave A]

Here's another:

Alec (Irwin): 'The argument that there has been a loss of skills is really, in our view, trying to score a political point.'

So we can ignore the fact that it is true then, can we?

[Debbiedle]

Over the past ten years the utility giant has pocketed enormous profits. In 2006 this amounted to R6.45-billion, an increase of 39 percent from 2005.

This is what gets me! How hard did you work for your profits and did they reach even 0,1% of these figures?