President Cyril Ramaphosa announced on Friday that the African National Congress (ANC) is strongly considering the establishment of a second state-owned power utility in order to reduce the risk posed by Eskom’s failings.
As reported by News24, Ramaphosa, who gave the ANC’s message of support on the third day of the SACP’s elective congress, said the proposal was initially made by Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe after the power utility plunged the country into stage six load shedding.
“Eskom has been operating as a monopoly for over 100 years and having one company taking up the role of providing energy to the entire country poses a great risk. If it [Eskom] fails, its failure becomes a peculiar failure for the entire country,” he said.
Ramaphosa said Mantashe’s proposal was a great idea. “Look at China. It has a number of state-owned power providers who compete among themselves ensuring that the price of electricity is greatly reduced.”
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South Africa’s triple threat: loadshedding, petrol price, and electricity tariffs
Picture: Cape {town} Etc gallery
