As the ineptitude of the “turnaround artist” otherwise known as CEO of Eskom, South Africa’s State-owned electric power supplier, have continued to grow — the country enduring draconian Stage Four “load-shedding” (rolling blackouts) for extended periods in November — calls for Andre DeRuyter’s replacement have become louder.
At an “extended” meeting of its National Executive, Dec 1-3, the South African National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) issued an extended communique on the drastic situation facing the nation, calling not only for the removal of De Ruyter and COO Jan Oberholzer, but the entire governing board of directors. In a 9-point statement which began by attacking the company “unbundling and privatization” plans, which “simply accelerate [Eskom’s] death spiral,” the statement turns to the $131 billion “so-called Just Transition.” Noting the “complete lack of transparency” of the agreement, “we are certain that part of the reason is that the loans are attached to conditionalities, which will further undermine our energy and economic sovereignty.”
“Developed countries have been using fossil fuels over the years to build their economies,” the document says, “It cannot be the responsibility of South Africa to sacrifice our economic development so they can continue to pollute. South Africa has an abundance of coal reserves. It will be very irresponsible for South Africa to stop the use of coal, unless and until we are fully compensated by the rich industrialized countries.” The NUM in its policy conference agreed to the continued use of coal in a responsible way.” Further points detail the disastrous condition of the national economy.