Why we have an electricity crisis, according to Zuma
President Jacob Zuma says that the ANC did not inherit a normal country and is working hard to correct the mess created by apartheid, including the provision of electricity to the entire population.
“Apartheid was abnormal. Its scars will still show for a long time to come,” the president said in an interview with SABC earlier this week.
“The economy of this country was racially based, catering for the minority, it’s a fact. Therefore, because of that, the electricity was not for the black.”
“We had to correct the size of the economy, the size of electricity illuminating to our citizens.”
He said that people should not blame those who are trying to fix the mess created by apartheid. “The housing, the infrastructure was not meant for all South Africans. We are now fixing that.”
“Load shedding is because power is not enough, it was not ever made to suit the economy of this country, and the size of the population, president Zuma said.
He accused analysts for misleading the people in South Africa regarding the state of Eskom and the provision of electricity. He said that analysts did not state the facts, blaming the current government for the electricity crisis. “I’ve got to correct that,” the president said.
Twenty years into democracy, 11 million households had access to electricity, double the number in 1994, Zuma said in a speech in December.
On Wednesday, Eskom warned that the power grid continued to be constrained, with power cuts a possibility.
“The system remains extremely constrained today but stable. Should anything unexpected happen, we may need to go into load shedding,” Eskom’s media desk said in an e-mail.
The power utility implemented stage one load shedding on January 9, due to high electricity demand and the unavailability of some of its generating units.
Eskom CEO Tshediso Matona said last week, that government shared responsibility for the country’s power problems as it dealt with policy. This included electricity prices set by the National Energy Regulator of SA.
Matona reiterated that the country’s power supply would remain severely constrained in the coming months while Eskom dealt with its maintenance backlog. He added that it may take a decade to fix completely.
More on Jacob Zuma and Eskom
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