DURBAN - Members of the ANC Youth League in the eThekwini Region and the Provincial Task Team (PTT) of the ANCYL pleaded with ANC treasurer-general Paul Mashatile to instruct the ANC deployment committee to fire Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan and Eskom chief executive André De Ruyter for sleeping on the job.
The call to fire the two emerged during the eThekwini Region ANCYL dinner round-table discussion at the Elangeni Hotel in Durban on Wednesday.
eThekwini Youth League Task Team member Phila Mofokeng accused De Ruyter of failing to turn things around at Eskom and keep the lights on.
He said the reason De Ruyter was at Eskom was because of his proximity to Gordhan.
"Comrade Mashatile, what Gordhan and De Ruyter are doing to this country is unacceptable. They have held this country to ransom and no one is doing anything. De Ruyter’s professional and leadership record speaks for itself.
“He has a track record of failing everywhere he goes. We don't know why he is still there."
Mofokeng said there was nothing positive to show that could be attributed to Gordhan because all the institutions he had presided over had collapsed.
He also did not spare the ANC National Executive Committee. He accused them of applying double standards in the step-aside rule and said it was a factional exercise and that Mashatile and the Top Six were not honest in its application.
ANCYL PTT member Portia Tatu echoed Mofokeng and said that the ANC was deeply factional and not united.
She cited the former health minister Zweli Mkhize as the recent senior ANC member that was sidelined when another ANC senior member in the Eastern Cape was exempted from the same rule.
"Everyone has their shortcomings including yourself, comrade Mashatile, but the step aside appears to be selectively applied. You are failing us.“
In response, Mashatile said that no one was holy in the party, adding that the step-aside rule was the brainchild of the last elective conference of the ANC and that is why it was implemented.
"It may be very well true that others are treated better, but if that is true then the leadership of the ANC must address that, but we need to know who are those people so that we know what to address.
Responding to calls to dismiss Gordhan and De Ruyter, he said that although he had no powers to dismiss them, he would convey the message to the president of the ANC.
"Koko Matshela may have tried but Eskom was already a monster, the problem at Eskom may be bigger than both Pravin and Andre. But Eskom is an old infrastructure that is part of other old failing infrastructures. Even in the water, it is the same problem," said Mashatile.
Energy expert and former Eskom executive Ted Bloem said there appeared to be elements of sabotage capture in Eskom.
“Over the past two years Eskom has thoroughly and consistently communicated the elevated risk of load shedding while conducting reliability maintenance on the ageing generating assets. Eskom has also consistently communicated the urgent need for the procurement of additional generating capacity of 4 000MW - 6 000MW in order to close the current generation supply deficit. Naturally, left unattended, this gap will only increase as the older power stations continue to deteriorate,” said Eskom spokesperson Sikonathi Mantshantsha.
To comment on this story send a WhatsApp message to our BackChat column on 071 485 7995.
Daily News