Ramaphosa wasn’t misled about load shedding, argues president’s office

The issue of load shedding and Eskom’s incompetence has led to confusion in the ranks of the African National Congress (ANC), after it was alleged that stakeholders misled President Cyril Ramaphosa about the seriousness of the situation.

As load shedding continues to frustrate and confound the South African public, the debilitating nature of rotational cuts has sowed discontent within government. The blame game, which has come to typify Eskom’s numerous operational shortfalls, has spread to those tasked with turning the embattled utility around.

David Mabuza points fingers at Pravin Gordhan

President Ramaphosa’s broken promise of a load shedding-free period, between 17 December and 13 January, has key players in Eskom’s recovery plan pointing fingers at one another.

On the side-lines of the ANC’s birthday celebrations in the Northern Cape, Deputy President David Mabuza faced a barrage of question relating to the Eskom saga. Mabuza, who has been tasked with leading an Energy War Room intended to solve the state owned enterprise’s issues, explained that Ramaphosa had been misled on the subject of load shedding.

The deputy president put the blame on Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan and members of the Eskom board, arguing that Ramaphosa was ill-advised to make promises that couldn’t be delivered. Mabuza said:

“You can’t say there won’t be any load shedding if there is no effective maintenance of these power stations. They’ve misled the president…”

‘Promises were broken… but not by the president’

Mabuza insinuated that his initial suggestion to the president, that promises could only be made if maintenance programs were properly implemented and overseen, fell on deaf ears.

Mabuza’s statements, which allude to a strained relationship between the president and his closest ally, Gordhan, sent shockwaves through government, forcing the ANC to scramble for answers.

The President’s spokesperson, Khusela Diko, quickly sanitised Mabuza’s statements and downplayed the sentiment of misinformation. Diko said:

“We have no doubt that the deputy president did not seek nor did he in fact infer any malicious intent on either the Minister of Public Enterprises Pravin Gordhan or the Eskom board chairperson Jabu Mabuza.”

Diko added that Ramaphosa had not broken his promise to keep ‘planned load shedding’ at bay, claiming that changes in Eskom’s operational situation could not have been accounted for. Diko explained:

“You will remember that the system was stable during the December period. Now what has subsequently happened could not have been planned and that’s why we keep saying that there’s been no planned load shedding as Eskom had committed.”

Stage 1 load shedding was implemented on Friday 10 January, just one day before the ANC’s 108^th birthday bash, which is scheduled to take place in Kimberley.