The African National Congress Professionals League (ANCPL) has noted and welcomes the statement issued by the ANC distancing the organisation from the utterances made by ANC Head of Organizing Senzo Mchunu and Minister of Public Enterprises Pravin Gordhan.
Describing black professionals as “fake” is not only desperately illogical, but is a sign of a leader who is fast losing touch with reality. While the ANCPL is still grappling with mending a wounded relationship with black professionals who were insulted in the past by being labelled ‘clever blacks’ and who therefore opted to distance themselves from party activities and the polls, we now, once again, have to deal with damaging utterance from senior leaders who have no basis for the accusations they make. Senzo Mchunu owes black professionals a public apology.
On the other hand, Pravin Gordhan has been issuing conflicting statements which affirm that he has little understanding of problems facing Eskom. He is on record to have misled the nation to believe Eskom is insolvent and later withdrew the statement with a dubious explanation. To declare a major finding such as insolvency requires rigorous scrutiny of the financial status of an organisation, and it is not something taken lightly because the repercussions for an organisation such as Eskom would be far-reaching.
Gordhan went on to say Kusile and Medupe coal power plants are badly designed and badly constructed. Yet this is the very infrastructure that is used by government as leverage to solicit funds, which therefore points to satisfactory quality that pleases funders. Why would the World Bank and Development Bank of China grant Eskom billons worth of loans without approval of technical designs and plans of these plants?
Playing an uniformed blame game is a clear indication of a Minister who is far from providing us with a long-lasting solution to actual challenges crippling Eskom, since he is pre-occupied with ideas that are neither supported by fact or logic. Gordhan owes the black professionals a public apology.
The ANCPL rejects any attempt at bringing in Enel Green Power to audit Eskom as announced by Gordhan. The so-called “International Experts” are nothing but another money-making scheme which will empower foreign professionals at the expense of home-grown talent.
Eskom has adequate engineers who can turn things around provided that there is a political will to do things correctly as opposed to shifting goal posts. The secrecy surrounding the list of IPPS lend credibility to the allegations that the entire processes is riddled with fraud and corruption.
It is also interesting to note that Enel Green Power, an Italian multinational, is a beneficiary of Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPP/IPP).
The ANCPL have it on good authority that the Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance holds a 24% stake in Enel Green Power – with South African financial institutions – Nedbank and ABSA investing R15 billion in a renewable scheme which is not assisting the country even when there is load-shedding. It is the workers and ordinary South Africans who are suffering during this period.
Both Mchunu and Gordhan have forgotten that the ANC has as its constituency base, working class and the rural poor. These are the most important categories of the people who are part of the important motive forces that stand to benefit from the process of transforming society that the ANC and its allies are leading.
What constituency is Senzo Mchunu and Pravin Gordhan representing? Clearly, the two ANC NEC members do not care about the welfare of thousands of Eskom professionals and their families.
The ANCPL supports meetings proposed by the ANC, and these must include black engineers and other professionals. We believe that such a dialogue will ensure that we find a long-lasting solution to the Eskom crisis. A directive will be issued to provincial structures to convene on this matter urgently.
Issued by the African National Congress Professionals League (ANCPL)