It will take five years to fix Eskom – Prof Gumede

As the country reacts to the ANC's proposal of declaring a state of disaster over the ongoing energy crisis and the possibility of sorting out the energy crisis in a short term, fixing Eskom will take at least five years, says Prof William Gumede.

Gumede, an associate professor at the Wits University's School of Governance, served as principal advisor for the presidential review committee on state-owned enterprises between 2010-2013.

Gumede said it was possible to fix Eskom without the declaration, but added it would take a minimum of five years to turn things around at the troubled power entity.

Gumede, who was appointed by former president Jacob Zuma to head the committee, said fixing the energy crisis in six months was nothing more than a public relations gimmick.

“To effectively deal with the energy crisis you need at least five years. There’s definitely a correlation between the push and the 2024 elections,” Gumede said.

"If there was political will within the ANC, the energy crisis can definitely be turned around. Meaning if the ANC are prepared to tackle vested interest and the resulting backlash that will come from the reforms,” he said.

Speaking to Sowetan, Gumede said dealing with Eskom can be done without a declaration of a state of disaster.

"Dealing with Eskom in its entirety demands political will and there are about seven reforms that need political will to change Eskom without the declaration.

"Eskom needs a board appropriate for a company needing to be in a turnaround strategy. A company that's totally broken down needs a board who've turned around other companies.

"Eskom cannot be reformed in six months, it’ll take at least five years if all other things are in place which is quite important from a public point of view because they need to understand this.

"Eskom needs shock therapy. It needs people who’ve cleaned up contracts and industrial experiences and people who’ve turned around SOEs and if we don't have them in SA, go find them overseas.

"The management structure at Eskom is not an appropriate one for turnaround because most are linked to ANC national executive committee, the president or cabinet.

"Also, the CEO of Eskom needs to be empowered to be able to hire and fire and not have to account to the ANC deployment committee, president or cabinet. 

"The ANC NEC and deployment committee are another governance structure on Eskom as they need to be consulted with everything. For any CEO to reform, the CEO must be given power not to listen to ANC deployment committee," Gumede said.

Gumede said if power stations have gone unmaintained for decades, the solution won't be to start maintaining them now but build new ones and replace certain systems which can't be done in six months.

"If the proposal is to do all the things I've mentioned then good but anything else is just for public relations purposes and for the ANC not to lose face ahead of the election," he added. 

Meanwhile, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) welcomed the ANC's proposal, adding that a state of disaster would send the message to society that the government was treating this crisis with the urgency it requires.

Cosatu spokesperson Sizwe Pamla was not looking at new policies but rather the accelerated implementation of the Eskom social compact, the Economic Recovery and Reconstruction Plan and other urgent interventions to turn the economy and state around.

"It will concentrate all of the government’s attention and resources to stabilising and rebuilding the grid and providing the government and Eskom with the necessary powers and tools to end load shedding.

"The ANC and government need to move with speed to resolve the crises of load shedding, unemployment, corruption, cable theft and the myriad of other calamities bedevilling this country. The ANC does not have the luxury of time, what is needed is real progress in the next six months, because the people are running out of patience," Pamla said.