Enough already with the ANC’s fiddling with Eskom — it is time for action and workable fixes

The Eskom catastrophe in South Africa has led to a widespread electrification crisis, with government failing to address numerous solvable challenges arising from Eskom’s operations. For over 15 years, South Africa has been experiencing regular rolling blackouts, and the situation is now approaching a full-blown energy disaster.

The right decisions must be made — and implemented immediately — to address this crisis. However, it is important to note that the energy system in South Africa is complex and multifaceted. No silver bullet or panacea can be used to instantly avert the power crisis.

When a complex system like ours is pushed to extremes, it is almost impossible to predict what will happen next — 2022 was the worst year to date, costing the country about R2-billion per day in terms of lost income from economic production due to rolling blackouts. Countless businesses have had to close, leaving yet more citizens facing unemployment and poverty.

The government has failed the citizens of South Africa, and it is now up to the private sector, citizens, academia, and foreign experts to come up with broad-based, innovative solutions to the electrification problem that the government’s inaction has created.

The current crisis presents South Africa with a challenge to come together as a nation and work out a solution with a proper foundational platform to stabilise and increase future electrification. Government needs to open up the sector, as their reluctance to do so only adds to the failure.

In addition, this crisis has been an internal political football, kicked from camp to camp within the ruling party and used as a means to leverage power, both political and economic. It has reduced South Africa and its citizens, their health and their livelihoods, to collateral damage in the ruling party’s war with itself.