Sitting in a chair while listening to the State of the Nation (Sona) speech, Pravin “Joshua Doore” Gordhan grinned as his uncle in the business let go of the burden of knowing that, despite many mishaps, he would still be entrusted to oversee Eskom.
“Why call him Joshua Doore?” I hear you ask.
Well, in November 2018, Economic Freedom Fighters vice-president Floyd Shivambu, a senior party leader who has continued to advocate for Gordhan’s removal and labeled him a “white monopoly capital dog”, mocked Gordhan by comparing him to “uncle”. ” on the logo of furniture retailer, Joshua Doore.
I have this image when President Cyril Ramaphosa – when he delivered Sona this month and announced that he will appoint a minister without electricity – said that the new ministry will not usurp the oversight role played by the portfolio of public enterprises, believe it or not. , Gordhan is still at the helm.
“In order to eliminate confusion, the minister of public enterprises will remain the representative of Eskom’s shareholders, and direct the restructuring of Eskom, and ensure the establishment of [new Eskom] transmission companies; monitor the implementation of the fair energy program, and monitor the formation of BUMN [state-owned enterprises] parent company,” the cupcake leader said.
At that moment, SABC news cameras broadcasting Ramaphosa’s address to the nation zoomed in on Gordhan, who smiled wryly that, if he had moved his right pinky finger to the side of his mouth, he would have resembled the fictional character Dr Evil he portrayed. Canadian actor Mike Myers in a series of comedy films, Austin Powers.
I believe that Gordhan’s sardonic smile has something to do with the realization that – although he has done well to improve the pathetic parastatals, including the power utility Eskom that plunged the country into darkness – he will remain the leader of South Africa’s SOEs in absentia. responsible for his failure.
last month, Business day reported that logistics parastatal Transnet, which exported 76 million tonnes of coal from its Richards Bay terminal in KwaZulu-Natal in 2017, has recorded its worst coal export since 1993 by shipping 51 million tonnes in 2022.
With Eskom, the first electricity utility, powering South Africa from 58.2% of households in 1996 to 84.2% in 2016, it was almost impossible to turn off the lights, condemning the country to 10 hours of blackout.
Yes, many of Eskom’s problems relate to the recent investment in additional energy capacity to the country’s grid, and Mail & Guardians has traced the 25-year downward spiral of BUMN into a grim incarnation of its former self.
Growing up in the Gauteng town of Katlehong in the 1990s, we had a joke of insulting each other as friends when someone did something stupid, using Eskom’s power to throw out a punchline.
“You light Eskom with a candle,” we would say.
That is, “You are so stupid, you went to war with Eskom who has no weapon but a candle.”
Today, you will have better luck in outshining Eskom with cylindrical blocks of wax, that is the decline of the utility.
However, after a two-year break (2016 to 2018) from the blackout that has been a feature since 2007, Gordhan came to the public company and reversed the green shoots.
All the minister has done to lift the dark cloud hanging over the country is to blame it on “state capture”, while complaining about the “resilience” he said he had to achieve since he was appointed to oversee the public company, M&G interview.
Eskom’s ongoing corruption is well established, and there is a nationwide commission of inquiry, headed by Supreme Court Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, which has highlighted the ongoing corruption in BUMN.
It must be good, so Gordhan – mention state capture every time to avoid responsibility for the energy crisis.
André de Ruyter, who borrowed from Gordhan’s tactics by also blaming his failure by pointing to “ANC corruption”, unexpectedly quit this week as chief executive of Eskom after more than two years of drinking from the poisoned cup of the electricity utility.
Kudos to the bright spark that thought that the rent coat, which has depreciated the market value of the packaging firm from R29 billion to R5 billion during the course of five years, will be the right person to lead the struggling energy company.
This is who De Ruyter’s successor will be.
But what is clear is that whoever takes over as Eskom’s chief executive will find his uncle sitting in a Gomma Gomma leather chair, grinning at the prospect of zero accountability.