A spokesperson for the DA believes privatising the power utility would open doors for more players in the industry.
The privatisation of Eskom is increasingly probable under the present government, but the utility is mired in vested interests that favour the status quo, say critics. But is privatising the continent’s biggest state utility really in the best interests of the voter?
Necessitated by increasing demand for cheap, reliable electricity for the booming gold mining sector during the 1920s, the establishment of Eskom was under starkly different socioeconomic conditions and instrumental in the economic boom which pre-dated the sanctions of the apartheid era. “But now it is heavily indebted, it is not efficient and under these circumstances, privatisation makes the most sense.”
“Iscor today doesn’t exist as it used to… It was a state entity. It used to have three divisions [steel, coal and iron ore], just like Eskom and it was a vertically integrated monopoly. Today is it broken up into three listed companies on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.” This was after it threatened to march against the unbundling, which was announced earlier this year, because this was seen as a step closer to privatisation.
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