Firing obstructive communist Mantashe will be big step to addressing loadshedding - may happen soon

Kevin Mileham, the Shadow Minister of Minerals and Energy, explains how the ANC blundered when appointing Gwede Mantashe to the portfolio responsible for SA’s electricity supply. The record shows that in under four years since taking charge, Mantashe has made one mistake after the other, his deliberate actions contributing greatly to the country’s current loadshedding crisis. Mileham says Mantashe’s obsession for coal and nuclear solutions reflect a man who is badly out of touch with reality - while his obstruction of private sector solutions is based purely on the ideological ground of a hard boiled communist. There is hope, however. Mileham says the ANC Elective Conference may well force Ramaphosa’s hand and force him to fire his long-time political ally. He spoke to Alec Hogg of BizNews.

[mk-xqtt]

The bottom line is : these people donot know HOW to govern.

[TheJuryIsOut]

This Mantashe character is the single biggest stumbing block to resolving the power issues in the Counrty and has been for a very long time. He has a personal agenda that he has been pushing for and one wonders why he has been going after De Ruyter relentlessly. A little bit of digging will bring this to light though I'm sure those close to the situation already know this.
De Ruyter is only trying to fix the monumental mess created by a bunch of incompetents who first need to graduate from running a spaza shop successfully! You have saboteurs coached from outside the organization with vested interests undermining his best efforts and they will stop at nothing to get rid of him and he gets zero support from the powers that be. The poor guy is stuck between a rock and a hard place.
If you think Eskom is bad you aint seen nothing yet. Transnet is three times the Eskom disaster and one can list the entire lot of SOEs run to the ground. It takes decades to build enterprises as big as the now ruined SOEs but only a few years and a few clowns to raze it to the ground.
The only reason Eskom hogs the limelight is because it affects the entire Country.
It's easy to sit on the sidelines and point fingers at competent people trying at all odds to get us out of this sorry mess we find ourselves in.
BTW, don't expect anything of substance coming out of the crisis committee as Ramaphala has bigger fires on the homefront to put out.
EISH, ANGAAZ

[christinefinniss]

The public should protest. The public has been far too accepting of the power crises situation.

[shaunmccormack]

Guys, the mistake you're all making is that you assume that the ANC is still a functional entity.

[andrewforrest]

You cannot run industry with solar panels & windmills, you need base load power. That either coal power or Nuclear power

[djoubert]

I fully agree it is time Gewdw Mantashe was kicked out. He is now just a nuisance in our country. DJ

[alexdeliperi]

Two biggest disasters of 1912; the sinking of the Titanic and the birth of the ANC.

[bertramhall]

Don’t count on Ramaphosa doing anything about Mantashe or energy, he can only talk.

[cathylyons]

Thank you Alex always informative, so grateful for your input . We can absolutely not wait 18 months for change SA is in crisis.

[Straightdeal]

The pebble-bed type nuclear configuration is far quicker to build. Why people are so anti-nuclear is beyond me. It is a clean energy, and there are ways and means to deal with the waste. France generates 70% of their electricity from nuclear sources. Using Thorium as a fuel in nuclear reactors carries several benefits over uranium.

[frankagliottisnr]

It is not about what he must do but he is operating on his own and does not give a damn about the people around him

[gideonlapidus]

We need to play them at their own game.
We must not pay electrical service fees if there is no service.

[wandaloxton]

Fossil fuels will save our energy problems and wind and solar are iffy. Small nuclear plants in different parts SA could be built quite quickly. Do not be led astray by climate fearmongering.

[dannyarcher]

One Man, One Vote was a mistake.

Change my mind.

[LammieOtto]

Part of the answer is to fix Medupi en Kusili using the “right” people.

[businesspins]

Renewables are too expensive. Nuclear is the only way to

[pippadora]

Very informative interview. However here in Mpumalanga, specifically White River, lack of electricity is not the problem so much as the lack of water. We have not had flowing water in white river in 3 weeks! This is now becoming a humanitarian crisis. WR has old age homes, an orphanage, lots of families with small children, an SPCA, and businesses all of whom are currently suffering from lack of water. Mbombela municipality has been incapable of coming up with a plan. Only our DA councilors are working very hard on our behalf to no avail...

[lenarddurand]

It is time that the politicians are being disposed of; and that rationality starts kicking in.

7 years to build a power station...no no no my friend. The old Eskom in it's early days managed to build and commission a CFPS every 22 months, yes 22 months. Check it's history...

[Paulstracywootten]

Mantashe has just waisted $8.5B - for that amount he could install 12GW in 12 months and save enough i coal purchases to replace the entire coal fleet in 2 years .. saving 980B a year..

And the ANC want to spend $8.5B on 270Mw over 7 years..

India installed 2.25GW 24/7 grid quality Solar for $1.4B in 2020..