GOOD Statement by Brett Herron,
GOOD Secretary-General & Member of Parliament
19 September 2022
It’s Groundhog Day, again, as President Cyril Ramaphosa returns to the country to address the Eskom crisis.
Two months after he announced a raft of interventions to address the spiralling energy disaster, the country is in the grips of Stage 6 blackouts, and the President has announced he’s returning home early after the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II – to address the disaster.
In July, Ramaphosa announced priorities including improving plant performance, establishing a competitive electricity market, attracting private investment in new generation capacity, increasing investments in renewables and cutting red tape.
Critically, he promised that Eskom would, “over the next three months”, add new generation capacity to the grid on an urgent basis, and, “as an immediate measure”, buy surplus capacity from existing independent power producers.
Given that the President is returning early from his overseas travels, his schedule should allow for him to call a “family meeting” to inform South Africans of progress.
It should be the first of regular meetings for the duration of the crisis. Perhaps the President could even improve on the Covid meetings model by taking questions from journalists from time to time, because questions abound.
The announcement of well-intentioned measures, in the teeth of a crisis, must be followed through with reports of real progress and real explanations for Eskom’s shortcomings.
Media Enquiries:
Brett Herron, GOOD Secretary-General & Member of Parliament
Cell: 0825183264
Email: bretth@forgood.org.za
Janke Tolmay, GOOD Media Manager
Cell: 0733671223
Email: janke@forgood.org.za