South Africans could face a dark winter
South Africans could face a winter without electricity if Eskom doesn't receive enough coal.
Eskom chairman, Ben Ngubane, warns that South Africans may experience power cuts this winter unless the National Treasury signs purchase agreements urgently so Eskom can build up its coal reserves, according to a report.
Commenting at the African Utility Week conference at the Cape Town International Convention Centre, Ngubane said that Eskom had no problems over the past two winters as Treasury funding had bought sufficient coal and that built up stocks were more than a million tons.
“Now we have a problem because Treasury has not yet signed our coal purchase agreements and we are in winter‚ and the winter is getting bitter, said Ngubane.
“People are using electricity like crazy… We need to have enough stock of coal in view of that.”
He credited the newly reinstated Eskom CEO Brian Molefe for the uninterrupted electricity supply‚ who on his second day back in the hot seat gave the event a skip due to other “urgent matters”.
Reports state that Molefe missed the start of the conference after investigative group, amaBhungane, implicated him in a plan to help the controversial Gupta family “hijack” the Optimum Coal mine operation from Glencore.
Former mining minister, Ngoako Ramatlhodi made unfavourable allegations against Molefe, Ngubane and president Zuma, telling amaBhungane that he was dismissed from the department when he would not go along with a plan to blackmail former Optimum owners, Glencore.
