Parliament descends on Eskom
Several parliamentary committees will descend on Eskom on Friday, as members engage with the embattled power utility’s board looking for answers and interventions to the ongoing load shedding crisis.
Eskom will be visited by the portfolio committees of public enterprises and mineral resources and energy, while the Select Committee on Public Enterprises and Communications will meet with senior management of Eskom and the company’s board of directors.
Eskom’s board was reshuffled in September 2022, bringing fresh faces to the ageing power company where Mpho Makwana was appointed as the new chairman.
The group is in for an even bigger shakeup at the management level, with current CEO Andre de Ruyter resigning from the group at the end of March 2023, and chief operating officer Jan Oberholzer expected to retire in the middle of the year.
The meeting aims to cover a wide array of fundamental issues facing the company, including:
- The current Energy Availability Factor;
- Security of electricity supply;
- The operational state of all power stations;
- Governance of the company;
- The processes towards the employment of a new CEO;
- A possible solution to the current load shedding;
- Sabotage and theft at power stations.
The meeting marks the second day of a two-day oversight mission by the government over the energy crisis. On Thursday (26 January), the relevant portfolio committees met with organised labour.
Khaya Magaza, the chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Public Enterprises, said that the information, coupled with the interaction with organised labour, would ‘be handy’ for when they meet with senior management and the Eskom board.
During the initial meeting with labour unions, workers raised concerns about the lack of focus on maintenance of the coal fleet of energy generating plants, skills shortage, the role of private companies in alleged sabotage at power stations, unwarranted mothballing of coal power stations and the adequacy of Independent Power Producers to alleviate the current challenges, said Parliament.
Despite extensive discussions, according to the portfolio committee chairperson on minerals and energy, Sahlulele Luzipo, no set decisions have been made regarding the issues of labour brought up.
Parliament said that organised labour fundamentally is the lifeblood of Eskom and presented varied solutions to the current energy crisis – some advocating for a focus on renewables while others encouraged continued coal reliance.
The national power utility is in a state of collapse, with rolling blackouts plaguing the country’s economy and citizens’ day-to-day lives.
Eskom slightly eased load shedding on Friday morning and for the weekend ahead, taking load shedding to stage 4 until further notice.
Eskom’s original plan was to reduce load shedding to stage 2 and then stage 1 during the day this week, with stage 3 in the evenings – however, this was scuppered due to unexpected breakdowns of several units and delays in getting other units back in operation.
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