Thabo Mbeki Calls for Eskom’s Leadership to Be Held Accountable for Loadshedding, SA Says He Is to Blame

• Former President Thabo Mbeki believes that Eskom’s executives should be held accountable for the energy crisis
• Mbeki was speaking at a leacture when he questioned those who made the decisions that led to loadshedding
• He quoted former Statistician-General Pali Lehohla and said politicians and accountants are in charge at the utility

TSHWANE - Former President Thabo Mbeki has called for Eskom’s executives to be held accountable for the energy crisis. He was speaking at the University of South Africa’s Muckleneuk Campus on Wednesday, 21 September, when he made the remarks.

During the lecture, Mbeki questioned those who made the decisions that led to the country’s electricity woes. He speculated that the management that was in charge when Eskom’s woes began wanted to increase the possibilities for black economic empowerment.

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The former president said Eskom attributed loadshedding Stage 4 and 5 to power failures at the two old plants, Medupi and Kusile. However, he questioned why the new power stations behave the same way as the old ones.

Mbeki said all the factors need to be considered to establish a solution to Eskom’s problems. The former head of the nation also said:

“I think to understand the company better, you need to go further back. Who took decisions like that?”

According to the Daily Maverick, Mbeki quoted former Statistician-General Pali Lehohla during the lecture and said Eskom is a “big business” with politicians and accountants in charge rather than engineers and economists.

The former president said he did not agree with Lehohla, but the quality of leadership in the country must be questioned. South Africa was first thrust into darkness in 2007 when Mbeki was president.

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Here’s what South Africans had to say about the former president’s remarks:

https://twitter.com/PhauweRachidi/status/1572741617563602945

@JackPhakathi1 said:

“Mbeki must be arrested for talking too much after leaving office.”

@commanderlux1 commented:

“Mbeki should get off this high horse he is riding, the energy crisis started during his term. He and Alec Erwin ignored the advice they were given by experts to increase generation capacity to meet future demands. He should just retire and shut up.”

@TGmoja added:

“He is the only former president who comments on things he failed to run successfully, he talks too much with less resolutions!”

President Cyril Ramaphosa wants urgent solutions to SA’s energy crisis and loadshedding

In a related matter, Briefly News also reported President Cyril Ramaphosa wants solutions for the country’s worsening energy crisis that has led to intense loadshedding.

Presidential Spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said Ramaphosa has been demanding that work is done faster by his team. He said the formation of the Energy Crisis Committee was to ensure efficiency.

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Cold baths, broken appliances and study woes: Frustrated South Africans share their loadshedding struggles

Magwenya said another unfortunate aspect causing loadshedding is that two power stations had design flaws.

Source: Briefly News