Johannesburg- Eskom boss André de Ruyter has become a polarising figure in South Africa, with both knives and shields out for him.
The Black Business Council (BBC) has called for De Ruyter’s sacking, supported by political parties such as the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and workers’ union Numsa.
The BBC has called Eskom’s leadership “overwhelmed, inept and out of depth”, while the EFF went further to call for the dissolution of the Eskom board and the sacking of Pravin Gordhan, the Minister of Public Enterprises.
Eskom’s non-executive directors, executive directors and other group executives earned a combined R40-million in the past financial year.
Entities like Business Unity South Africa and the Minerals Council are, however, backing De Ruyter.
Energy expert Ted Blom said De Ruyter had not cut it as Eskom CEO since taking over in 2019. “Keeping the same team who have a proven record of disaster and expecting a different outcome is insanity.”
Shawn Theunissen, the president of the Johannesburg Chamber of Commerce (JCCI), said the volatile supply of electricity over the past couple of years has had a devastating impact on the sustainability of SMMEs. However, the chamber backed De Ruyter and his leadership team.
“There have been 11 CEOs in 10 years, therefore the JCCI believes that the management at Eskom should remain in place. The constant change in leadership has contributed to the historical problem. At this stage, any change in leadership would plunge South Africa into uncontrollable rolling blackouts,” Theunissen said.
Small businesses have taken a beating due to the unreliable power supply. William Ledwaba of Ledwaba X-clusive Auto in Orlando East, Soweto, runs a panelbeating and spray-painting business. He said that load-shedding was destroying his business.
“Today our businesses are operating at a slow rate of 10% and we are on the brink of collapsing because of load-shedding … I am working at a loss due to this load-shedding as I can’t afford to buy a generator that will cost me R2 000 a day for it to be functional. My clients end up going somewhere else where businesses have generators and this has hit me hard,” said Ledwaba.
Bongi Mtshalala of Bongie Beauty Hair Salon said that power blackouts had destroyed her once-flourishing business. “It pained my heart when I had to lay off some of the people I worked with as we were all trying to make a living, but having to deal with this load-shedding is a disaster.
“There is a lot of changes that need to be done at Eskom and André de Ruyter should just step down as he is failing on his job. He is riding a dead horse and he needs to step aside.”
Chomane Funeral Ser-vices director Ntinti Chomane said: “We had to rely on two generators at each branch. Our business is very sensitive and we get
affected badly by blackouts. It is sad that we keep on paying the full amount on electricity tariffs but we always experience load-shedding.”
President of Limpopo Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Albert Jeleni, said the situation was disturbing. “Our businesses in Limpopo are affected badly given the fact that our province is semi-rural and is one of the poorest regions in South Africa. Eskom is violating the ethical conduct of business by failing to honour the contracts they have with their customers. Load-shedding is stripping our profits away but a bigger fear is loss of jobs,” said Jeleni.
Owner and manager of Hayani Guest House in Polokwane Grace Sibara said while the hospitality industry was still reeling from the devastation caused by Covid-19, load-shedding was exacerbating the situation. “Our industry is hugely affected by these rolling blackouts because without electricity, we are unable to book our guests into our hotels.
“We are a small business that cannot afford backup generators, especially after the dwindling fortunes caused by Covid-19,” said Sibara.
A study by Nova Economics on behalf of Eskom estimates that 1% load-shedding (as percentage of electricity sales) is associated with a 0.4% decrease in GDP growth.
The cost of an entire day of load-shedding to the economy is estimated as:
- Stage 1 (or load-shedding 1000MW): R235.5-million
- Stage 2 (2000MW): R471.3-million
- Stage 3 (3000MW): R706.7-million
- Stage 4 (4000MW): R942.4-million
Professional services firm PwC said load-shedding remained a key constraint to economic growth. “Our baseline scenario has for some time assumed that power cuts would be back during the fourth quarter. Overall, we expect load-shedding to reduce 2021 GDP growth by 3 percentage points – and cost the country 350 000 in potential jobs,” PwC said.
Eskom board chair professor Malekgapuru Makgoba said the board fully supported the current management under De Ruyter’s leadership.
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