The head of one of South Africa’s largest business chambers, the Afrikaanse Handelsinstituut, says the government’s fixation with ideology and politics is steering the country to disaster – and nowhere is this more apparent than in the collapse of Eskom.
Christo van der Rheede was part of a delegation of business leaders who were briefed on the energy crisis by Eskom this week. At the meeting, Eskom CEO collapse of Eskom told them his parastatal needed an immediate R20-billion bailout to keep the lights on.
But Matona couldn’t tell them why Eskom was not collecting the billions owed to it by municipalities.
This failure to pay Eskom has contributed significantly to the electricity provider’s cash crisis. “We were told it is a government issue and their hands are tied,” says Van der Rheede.
These municipalities are in effect “sabotaging” the country, he says, but the government will not do anything about it for political reasons.
“This is simply not good enough. Someone must be called to task. Ministers must put pressure on cabinet and cabinet must put pressure on the head of this country to clamp down on people who are completely disregarding the laws of this country.”
Another example of the government putting ideology and politics ahead of South Africa’s interests, he says, is its refusal to use readily available private sector expertise to fix the power crisis…
South Africa Today – South Africa News
