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Zim's 'free' Eskom power ride
18/01/2008 11:12 - (SA)
Cape Town - A trade union has revealed that Eskom exports the equivalent of an "entire power station" to SA's neighbours and that Zimbabwe does not pay for the power it receives.
Information obtained by Solidarity shows that Eskom currently exports 3 000MW of electricity to neighbouring countries. This almost equals the entire output of one SA power station.
This emerged after calls earlier this week for Eskom to disclose exactly how much electricity it supplies to SA's neighbours and at what rate. Questions were also raised as to whether the countries being supplied are subject to load shedding.
Solidarity spokesperson Jaco Kleynhans says that the exporting of electricity to neighbouring countries will have to be reviewed.
"Since Monday, the SA economy has suffered losses of millions of rands."
"The electricity shortage in our country has become so serious that Eskom should seriously consider systematically phasing out electricity supplies to neighbouring countries, while giving these countries the opportunity to find alternative solutions. If it were not for these exports, SA would have had amply electricity supplies for its own needs."
"We have also been informed that Zimbabwe does not pay for the electricity supplied to it by Eskom."
Public outcry
The FF-Plus on Thursday suggested that businesses should consider a "tax-withholding" programme if power cuts continue.
A Gauteng legislature member who speaks for the party on trade and industry matters, Jaco Mulder, called on business to force government to address the lack of capacity at Eskom.
"If the situation should continue, the business sector of SA should put pressure on the government and could even consider, as taxpayers, to start a tax-withholding programme as a last resort," Mulder said.
On Thursday Sapa reported that Solidarity handed two reports to the public protector outlining the bottlenecks at the power utility.
"Solidarity maintains that the electricity supply crisis results from a shortage of skilled workers at the company, caused by the large-scale departure of skilled people from Eskom and a lack of proper training in scarce skills."
"The problem is exacerbated by inadequate maintenance at Eskom power stations," the spokesperson told Sapa.
We should like Eskom to respond to these allegations and call on the electricity supplier to lay the facts before the SA public," Kleynhans said.
- Fin24
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