Thursday.
It’s been a century – and a day – since the first light was switched on at Eskom, we are no longer the beloved power utility.
It’s a milestone: 85 years of providing electricity to South Africa and helping to build the economy of the continent’s most industrialized country – along with 15 others doing the opposite.
Not exactly the kind of performance one would have expected or paid for the mark of 100 years in the electricity business, but the results that have been made since 1998, when the warning bell about Eskom first rung – and ignored.
Like the majority of my friends in South Africa, I marked my hundredth birthday by lighting candles, not to celebrate, but because Eskom has – once again – failed to do its job and provide electricity.
For his birthday, Eskom gave him a dose of load shedding from 20:00 to 22:00, along with another two hours and a little bit thrown in the book and free and no four for Arsenal at home in the league against Everton.
Eskom gives, Eskom takes away.
At least I did not miss the second coming of Jesus at the Emirates last night – Gabriel will only be back in the side in time for Crystal Palace – but there is still time for the alleged electricity supplier to spoil the moment for all of us.
I did not buy a 100th gift for the former Eskom CEO André de Donker, although I have been tempted to get him a power bank or a paraffin lamp to say dankie and totsiens.
De Donker has trundled off to live somewhere with electricity after asking Aja Ayo there from the Board of Eskom and Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan hours after tell-all on television, so it would be a bit of waste if I do.
Then again De Donker gets the boot and his appointment as electricity minister won’t stop him, so power banks – and paraffin lamps – will come in handy before things get any better.
All of De Donker’s drama is quite a chapter.
Gordhan, Cyril Ramaphosa and other colleagues in the cabinet were all happy for De Donker to carry out the news despite not being able to fix Eskom and keep the lights on, but by the time he started pointing the finger at Luthuli House, it was too late. The Dark Prince.
No lights? No worries.
The sixth phase removes the load after three years of work? There is no drama.
Blow the whistle? Out the door, André, no more exit interviews.
Former vice president David Mabuza must have watched De Donker’s swift departure from Megawatt Park with some degree of admiration – even envy.
Cats have been trying to fire him since the start of the new year, when he first sent word to Ramaphosa, a reluctant reshuffler – although some say he resigned quietly at the start of 2018 and has been eyeing the door – and the balance with the Government Employees Pension Fund – since.
Ramaphosa only agreed to release Mabuza on Wednesday – almost two months later – which is best left to the president, who has been decisive in his decision since the ANC recalled his predecessor and led him. country.
The president’s attitude during the reshuffling became dizzying. The whole managing-only-when-around-the-corner thing was getting a little tired after half a decade of waiting for him to make up his mind. But it’s also understandable.
Ramaphosa’s cabinet has as much talent as Tottenham have trophies. Most of their members have done more than enough damage to the Republicans in the portfolios they have held, so I’m not going to let anyone lose anywhere else either.
Perhaps it was De Donker’s dramatic departure that pushed the president over the edge and into the decision to allow Mabuza to leave the vice presidency in the way he had been – silent, invisible and without ruckus.
The last thing Ramaphosa needs is Mabuza, the man credited (among others) with swinging the vote at Nasrec in 2017, breaking his five-year vow of silence and causing a ruckus as he exits the Union House. .
One wonders how long it took the president to decide what to wear in the morning, because he refused to press his button when he arrived at the Union Buildings.
Perhaps someone made the decision for him, and Ramaphosa tagged along, as he has done since February 2018.