The new Eskom board starts its first full week in office amid debilitating power cuts that are harming SA’s already struggling economy and deterring investment.
The new board is under immense pressure to provide immediate solutions to SA’s worst power crisis.
Eskom’s financial and power generation woes have been described as the biggest single threat to the economy. The latest power cuts will further hobble GDP growth that was weak even before the Covid-19 outbreak in 2020.
The power utility’s deteriorating performance prompted calls from opposition parties, unions and civil society organisations for President Cyril Ramaphosa and public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan to replace the leadership.
There will not be much activity in parliament this week with MPs focusing on constituency work. But, on Tuesday, parliament’s home affairs committee will meet for further deliberations on the crucial Electoral Amendment Bill. The electoral system has to be changed to allow independent candidates to contest elections as required by a 2020 Constitutional Court judgment. The bill proposed by the committee allows independent candidates to stand in several regions and they will get the seats in the regions where they secures the most votes.
But civil society groups such as the Independent Candidates Association (ICA) and One Movement SA (OSA) have made submissions reiterating their opposition to the bill, because it does not introduce a constituency-based system, which they say is essential for the electoral system to be constitutional. However, the committee is not considering this plea.
On Monday in Pretoria, trade, industry & competition minister Ebrahim Patel will host the ninth session of the SA-Saudi Arabia joint economic commission and the SA- Saudi Arabia Trade and Investment Forum. The aim of the forum is to provide SA and Saudi Arabian companies with a strategic platform to engage on bilateral trade and investment opportunities in both markets while giving them access to senior decisionmakers and stakeholders, the department of trade, industry and competition said at the weekend.
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