In a scathing statement released on the heels of the stage 4 loadshedding announcement, the Black Business Council (BBC) called for Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter’s axing.
Why Black Business Council wants Eskom CEO axed
The national power supplier has, over the past few weeks, faced increased challenges with keeping a stable electricity grid.
On Monday, the state-owned utility revealed that due to a failure in returning seven power units to service, as well as a fault with a generator at Arnot power station, increased blackouts at stage 4 would be implemented until Friday morning
BBC CEO Kganki Matabane laid the blame for Eskom’s inability to deal decisively with loadshedding for the two years since its ‘renewal’ on De Ruyter, a man previously thought to have had the perfect character to bring stability at Megawatt Park.
“The BBC was overly optimistic when De Ruyter was appointed as Eskom needed stability but has since realised that two years later, the country has nothing to show but the highest number of blackouts in the history of our beloved South Africa, Matabane said.
The pro-black council demanded the immediate dissolve of the Eskom board and called on government leadership to indicate when, exactly, “the problem will be finally resolved so that businesses and all residents can plan their lives accordingly.”
From what we understand, the council has also demanded an urgent meeting with President Cyril Ramaphosa and Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan.
“The country has been experiencing the blackouts since 2008 and 13 years later, there is no light at the end of the tunnel. The continuous excuse of blaming state capture, instead of solving the current problem, while could have been valid, is disingenuous and tired.
“The inability to stabilise Eskom will only lead to the country being downgraded resulting in the increase in the already world-record-breaking unemployment rate, further economic contraction and scaring of international investors,” Matabane warned.
Stage 4 loadshedding is currently in place until Friday morning. Thereafter, the rotational power cuts will be reduced to stage 2, with more than 14 800MW not feeding into the grid due to breakdowns.
