City Press writes that while SA is once again dangerously close to the abyss of a total electricity network collapse, Eskom management must make its way through murky political waters in an attempt to appoint experts who know how to restore and manage power stations.

Of the list of 300 “best of the best” experts that trade union Solidarity handed over to Eskom early last month – people who are all prepared to start working immediately to tackle the problems – only 18 have been appointed. At the behest of his political bosses for the process to be more inclusive, Eskom CEO André de Ruyter must now launch a crowdsourcing platform to recruit the engineers, atomic physicists, plant operators and senior craftsmen needed to keep the lights on. De Ruyter has to tread a thin political line to get anything done, Solidarity’s Dirk Hermann commented on Saturday. Only a few days earlier, Eskom’s chief operating officer, Jan Oberholzer, admitted that his staff and contractors did not have the necessary skills to repair the ailing power stations to ensure a stable power supply. According to Oberholzer, the repairs Eskom was carrying out on the power stations were ineffective and the units would soon break down again. In 2019 for the first time, Solidarity gave Eskom a list of 480 former employees with the right skills to help it. The list was further refined to 300, but, to date, only 6% of those professionals have been appointed and are making a difference. In addition to renewed load shedding, last week the country also had to stomach the struggling power utility’s request to raise tariffs by almost one-third next year. For 2024, it is asking for a further increase of 10%. Energy regulator Nersa will be holding public hearings on Eskom’s tariff application this week and must finalise its decision on the matter by 24 December.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Antoinette Slabbert at City Press (subscriber access only)

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