eskom IMF

JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA – DECEMBER 06: Eskom chairperson Jabu Mabuza and public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan during a media briefing about countrywide power outages on December 06, 2018 in Johannesburg, South Africa – Photo: Gallo Images / Netwerk24 / Felix Dlangamandla

In quotes: Pravin Gordhan’s dig at Trump illuminates gloomy Eskom briefing

Even during the Eskom briefing, the event was subject to load shedding. The loss of power just about summed up the situation, if not Pravin Gordhan’s outlook.

eskom IMF

JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA – DECEMBER 06: Eskom chairperson Jabu Mabuza and public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan during a media briefing about countrywide power outages on December 06, 2018 in Johannesburg, South Africa – Photo: Gallo Images / Netwerk24 / Felix Dlangamandla

Maybe it was a sign of frustration. Maybe it was the comic relief such a dire situation needs. Either way, Pravin Gordhan’s off-script criticism of the US President Donald Trump was a stand-out moment amid the gloom of Tuesday’s Eskom media briefing.

After being asked a question regarding the governance of South Africa by an American journalist, the minister of public enterprises fired back, maintaining that Mzansi isn’t a country that “governs by Tweets” – making light of Donny T’s multiple social media misfires.

They might have a controversial president who could be impeached any day now. But we’d wager that there aren’t rolling blackouts due to the continued piss-poor management of state-owned energy supplier in America.

What Pravin Gordhan and Jabu Mabuza said at the briefing

We didn’t really learn that much from Gordhan, who was also joined by current Eskom Chairperson Jabu Mabuza. The pair effectively insisted that load shedding is the best solution and they do not know when this current schedule of power cuts will end.

Their timing was impeccable, by the way: Even the press conference was hit by load shedding, as the lights went down shortly after proceedings began.

However, there were still some genuinely fascinating insights into the chaos that currently engulfs Eskom at the moment. We picked out the best of the bunch from the briefing, focusing on what Gordhan and Mabuza had to say.

Eskom media briefing in quotes – Pravin Gordhan:

Gordhan appeals for sympathy from the public:

“I want to appeal to everyone to understand the challenges that we are facing. This is a difficult time. People are frustrated.”

Pravin doesn’t have a wand:

“It is going to be a huge struggle to overcome the crisis. We don’t have a magic wand to say load shedding is over. At this point in time – we are still getting a better picture of what stations are confronted with.”

Need answers? Give us 10 days:

“We will communicate more frankly and explain ourselves better as we continue. We agree that we could have communicated more efficiently before, and we’ll get more information after 10 days as our technicians investigate.”

State capture to blame for maintenance woes:

“Most coal power plants retire between 30-40 years, but ours are 40, some 50 years old. The misspending on maintenance [money] which was diverted somewhere else… is a clear pattern of what we see what happened at other SOE during state capture.”

Pravin Gordhan takes on Trump

“We also had a delegation from the US here over the weekend. Let me just say, we are less noisy than them. We perhaps have fewer problems. And we don’t govern through Tweets! But their justice department works, whereas we have had to suffer state capture.”

Give us a year, and everything will be fine:

The present administration has been in office for 14 months and has improved confidence, have invited investors and held summits on issues facing SA. We will get it right in the next year or two, but it will take time.

Eskom media briefing in quotes – Jabu Mabuza:

He’s got a list of demands:

We need speed, money and equipment. The maintenance was not done as it was supposed in past years and now we can’t move with speed.

Again with the sympathy vote…

“We don’t have the time or money to build new stations. Load shedding acts as our last option. Its not something we take lightly. We understand the pain…”

“When you take the time to fix the problem there are four options: One: You might have to import supplies. Two: You have to look at opening gas turbines. Three: Build new power stations. Four: You then have to load shed.”

Flogging a dead horse:

“We have looked at selling Medupi and Kusile amidst Eskom’s difficult financial situation. We are currently doing an exercise on not continuing to spend on completing them, too.”

Challenges ahead?

We are now very far from a national blackout. But there are more challenges to be aware of. We take the threat of industrial action and strikes very seriously. We’ll be talking to unions in a sincere and meaningful way.