In an overt move towards Nelson Mandela’s Rainbow Nation and away from racial tensions, an Afrikaner has been charged with turning around South Africa’s troubled power utility.
The appointment of Andre de Ruyter as CEO of Eskom is a sign of desperation and necessity, as the firm this week said its full year loss would again be enormous – about $1.4 billion.
The utility’s debt is already $31.3 billion and its constant demands for bailouts and debt guarantees have push the country’s fiscus to the brink of a cliff.
On top of that, and despite an installed capacity of 38,000MW, Eskom has shown it cannot consistently keep the lights on – a necessity for the limping economy.
Since taking office in 2018, President Cyril Ramaphosa has been saying the country needs people who can do key jobs, not a patronage system.
While the constitution is based on the idea of the equality, it also recognises the inequalities created by 42 years of apartheid and more than three centuries of colonial rule. The clash between the competing values of “one law for all, applied equally” and affirmative action has come into focus in this appointment – which notably received full cabinet approval.
Widely hailed as positive in business circles, the appointment drew howls of protest and caused the Economic Freedom Fighters party to describe it as racist and anti-transformational.
Under the regime of Jacob Zuma, “transformation” was effectively a code word either jobs for pals, for corruption or both.
It was then inconceivable that the top slot in the country’s biggest state-owned enterprise could be given to a member of the “white tribe of Africa” responsible for apartheid.
Indeed, it is hard to imagine that such a thing could have happened under any of the other possible leaders of the ruling African National Congress than Ramaphosa.
In this sense, he continues to play the role of fulfilling Mandela’s Rainbow Nation dream.
Such an approach does not suit black African radicals and anti-white groupings. Nevertheless the appointment seems above board.
That necessity is a main driver is also beyond doubt. Eskom and South Africa Inc cannot afford the loss of billions annually.
Even short periods of rolling blackouts, caused by Eskom’s ageing fleet of coal-powered stations having been inadequately serviced, are costing billions and setting back the unsteady economy.
The move also shows that some in the ANC leadership and beyond have evolved past the point of looking at everything through a racial lens.
The outgoing Eskom CEO took the trouble to go into the selection that led to de Ruyter being picked despite – demographically speaking – being the least politically acceptable candidate of the 142 applicants.
Of the six final candidates to be interviewed, four were white. Ramaphosa knows that appointing the best person for the post – someone who may actually be able to do what is needed – is bound to engender confidence among those on whom much of South Africa’s economic wellbeing rests.
The feat before the new Eskom boss is, nevertheless, daunting.
One problem is a hangover from the apartheid past when it was encouraged among black South Africans that one way to undermine the state was not paying for services.
When post-apartheid South Africa came into being, there was a feeling of cutting the poor some slack and so there was not a fierce insistence of payment for usage of, among other things, electricity, with many illegal connections made.
The chickens have now come home to roost, with municipalities owing about $1.72 billion, an amount expected to rise to $2.1 billion within the next six months.
This is money not being paid by customers using Eskom-generated or bought power – and one reason for the utility’s problems.
Another is its ageing fleet, though units of Eskom’s two new super-expensive power station complexes have just come on line or are about to.
But there are inefficiencies along with structural issues to be addressed and the organisation is riven with corruption.
De Ruyter appears to have the capabilities to turn the listing ship around, though his task is complex.
Beyond the “good news” of having someone fit for purpose doing this crucial job, there is also the perhaps more important signal to those interested in South Africa that this country is showing some fresh green shoots of post-apartheid non-racialism where it counts.
