Mabuza: 2020 has seen significant stabilisation at Eskom

Mabuza delivered the keynote address at the annual National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) summit on Tuesday.  

In the 2019 State of the Nation Address, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that Eskom would be unbundled into separate firms: one responsible for generation, one for distribution and one for transmission.

Mabuza has been appointed by Ramaphosa to lead a task team on the sustainability and turnaround of Eskom.

On Tuesday Mabuza said he believes that, despite of the havoc wreaked by the Covid-19 pandemic, it has been a year of significant stabilisation at the struggling power utility.  

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“The Eskom social compact and the economic reconstruction and recovery plan deserves full of our support. There is no room for apathy and cynicism, there is no tangible benefit in being enemies of hope rather we all benefit together when we are friends to optimism.”  

He also called on South Africans to pay for the electricity they use and not to resort to illegal connections.

“Consensus is built through negotiation and not coercion. We reach a win-win outcome if we do not become entrenched to our private interests, but prioritise the common welfare. Compromise and trade-offs are central in this instance and not the pursuit of a zero-sum game where eventually, no one comes out a winner.

“Part of the Eskom social compact is about the revival of the campaign to encourage our people to pay for basic municipal services and to stop illegal electricity connections. Doing so is in our best interest, as we mark this significant milestone in Nedlac’s existence.”