Durban - Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan has been slammed for repeating a promise that the country will have energy security in the next 18 months to two years.
An energy expert and political analyst were reacting yesterday to comments made by Gordhan in a virtual address on Tuesday night at the Durban Chamber of Commerce and Industry annual gala dinner.
Gordhan said the plan was to ensure the country had energy security as was announced by the president in July this year.
He said a crisis committee composed of many ministers, which is chaired by President Cyril Ramaphosa, is actively at work, and the aim is to provide that security.
Gordhan said this would not happen overnight but certainly over the next 18 months or two to two-and-half years.
A similar promise was made by then deputy president Ramaphosa in 2015.
Gordhan said: “In the immediate instance our task is to make sure that Eskom works better than it works at the moment. All of us are dissatisfied with the current performance from power stations that Eskom manages and Eskom is under constant monitoring by ourselves at national government level to ensure that everything possible is done to support them to overcome its current problems.
“Included in this is to obtain better maintenance services, ensure better quality of coal delivered to Eskom, ensure the theft of fuel oil is limited and does not become a cost factor to Eskom and more importantly, wherever possible, give Eskom the space and consent to purchase as many megawatts as it can find, whether from the private sector or the southern African region to minimise the impact of load shedding in the country,” Gordhan said.
“We don’t want to engage in political attacks some have done earlier today but we certainly want to assure you that everything possible is being done,” Gordhan said, in reference to DA leader John Steenhuisen’s press conference on Tuesday. Steenhuisen called for Minerals and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe to be fired and accused Ramaphosa, Mantashe and Gordhan of being lethargic in their response to the crisis.
Gordhan said the government understood the frustration of households and of business, big and small.
In response to Gordhan’s comments, energy expert Chris Yelland said it would take longer than even two years to resolve the maintenance issues at Eskom. “Skills and maintenance are not going to solve the problem in the timeline Gordhan has provided because Eskom needs new generation capacity. An increase in maintenance means there will be more load shedding because there is no generation reserve space and there is less availability.”
Yelland said there are hundreds of generators and it is not physically possible to maintain these units over the next two years. “Eskom has to first build new generation capacity,” he said.
Political analyst Professor Sipho Seepe said Gordhan should have disclosed that the same promise that was made in 2015 was now being repeated.
“They are running short on ideas. The issue of skills and maintenance is an old story. These are basic issues and one would expect an institution like Eskom to be experts at managerial competence.
“This should have been done in 2015 and to repeat the promise is an insult to people’s intelligence.”
Seepe said Gordhan needs to own up to the fact that when Matshela Koko and Brian Molefe, who both served as Eskom CEO, were at the power utility, they were able to resolve issues around load shedding.
“This is a historical fact as they were able to carry out the basics like maintenance.”
Seepe said the government’s mixed messages about coal and renewable energy were not helping.
“Countries that are concerned about energy security are going back to coal. Renewables are not the answer. What is scary is the damage they are doing to the economy.”
Eskom said on Tuesday night that load shedding will continue to be implemented at Stage 5, with the possibility of reducing it to Stage 4 by today.
It said since Monday, four generation units at four power stations were taken off line for emergency repairs. These are a generating unit each at Arnot, Lethabo, Kendal and Majuba power stations.
Seven units returned to service at Camden, Kendal, Kriel, Kusile, Lethabo and Majuba power stations.
“Eskom apologises for the continued and unfortunate load shedding, which is implemented only as a last resort in view of the shortage of generation capacity and the need to attend to breakdowns.”