Public Enterprises Minister Alec Erwin should stop acting as the government’s spokesperson on national electricity problems as he has lost credibility, the Democratic Alliance (DA) said on Monday.
”… Minister Erwin neither bears sole political responsibility nor is he competent to act as the government’s spokesperson on the national power problems and particularly not on Koeberg,” DA minerals and energy spokesperson Hendrik Schmidt said in a statement.
”Minister Erwin lost all the credibility he had on the issue of power [failures] last year when he notoriously stated on national television … that sabotage was to blame for the shutdown at Koeberg when in truth it was … due to Eskom’s negligence and poor maintenance of the nuclear power plant,” he said.
Schmidt also accused Erwin of having lied about the issue in Parliament.
”He wilfully misled Parliament by denying that he had made the false statement despite having been presented with video evidence to the contrary,” he said.
He called on Minerals and Energy Minister Buyelwa Sonjica to start accounting to the South African public for the electricity crisis.
”While Minister Erwin in his portfolio bears political responsibility for the shutdown as the manager of government’s shares in Eskom, Koeberg’s operator, Minister Sonjica, as the political head in charge of ensuring energy supply and regulation, has the more pertinent political platform from which to account to the public,” he said.
The lack of security concerning South Africa’s energy supply and the negative perceptions it can have as a result cannot be afforded in the current climate where the attainment of job creation and economic growth goals remains a tenuous pursuit, said Schmidt.
Efficient use
Meanwhile, Eskom on Monday assured consumers that no more power cuts were anticipated but urged them to continue using electricity sparingly.
”A culture of being efficient in using electricity needs to settle in to South Africa … consumers have to start managing their consumption,” said spokesperson Fani Zulu.
Although there is no need for load-shedding as the generators that went down have been fixed, ”it is machines we are dealing with” and ”machines do break down”.
On Sunday, Eskom managing director [transmission] Jacob Maroga said: ”The era of excess electricity capacity in South Africa is unfortunately over. Energy, and thus electricity, is a resource which we need to use efficiently and appropriately and we appeal to all consumers to continue to use electricity responsibly.”
On Thursday last week Eskom experienced unplanned failures of 4 600mW because of technical generating-plant problems.
This resulted in power cuts around the country that prompted Eskom to load-shed electricity.
Load-shedding is the deliberate cutting off of electricity when demand exceeds supply. — Sapa