Sacci CEO Alan Mukoki says that the power utility plays a big role in businesses and households, but the different messages conveyed to South African citizens about when load-shedding will come to an end is alarming.

"The Minister of Finance, Enoch Godongwana, mentioned at the World Economic Forum a six- to eight-month period. Before then, after the ruling party’s conference, the Minister of Energy, Gwede Mantashe, said it should take between six to twelve months.

"And just last week, the chairperson of the power utility, Mpho Makwana, said it will take around two years and that the country will hover around load-shedding stages 2 to 3, and this will be in a permanent state to enable a level of certainty.

"The same day, Eskom’s spokesperson, Sikonathi Mantshantsha, said a totally different thing, that there is no such thing as permanent load-shedding as it will not guarantee the end of load-shedding and we might end up having higher stages of load-shedding," he explains.

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Mukoki recalls that the abovementioned has always been the case with Eskom.

"President Cyril Ramaphosa has said something similar about when load-shedding will come to an end. The CEO of Eskom, André de Ruyter, when he started, mentioned an 18-month period," he adds.

Mukoki believes that the different messages have created a gap in credibility in terms of whether one can believe the things the power utility is saying and whether load-shedding will come to an end.

"Those tasked with leading the power utility are not speaking from one mouth, they are instead speaking from different corners."

He still believes that for load-shedding to fully come to an end, a proper root cause assessment needs to be done because changing leaders does not seem to be working.

"The ecosystem around Eskom starts from governance, which includes the Cabinet’s role in how Eskom operates; from there, the issues of operations and technology; the issue of funding; and the relationships and the interrelationships in the organisation between staff members and the executive management," says Mukoki.

He stands by his word that after this is done, the power utility might spend less money than what they are spending now.

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Mukoki concludes that people are losing trust in Eskom because of the frequency of changing CEOs.

"We have raised the issue of how people who lead the power utility are selected. The process of how executives are appointed lacks a level of competence because the people sitting around the table have never worked in executive positions in large corporations. So now, these people sit in a room to decide the best person for the job; how do they know that?

"What template is being used to select these people? The solution we came up with is that they must put an independent body on the side of the Minister, on the side of the Cabinet, that will assist in selecting the people with skills to help with the issues at hand.

"We must remember that ministers are chosen because of their political influence and because they were elected to those positions."

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