Whenever Italy gets serious about running state affairs due to pressure from the European Union (read Germany), they tend to bring in a technocratic leader. Since 1993, the country with its many governments led by coalitions with crazy leaders like Silvio Berlusconi at center stage, has had four technocratic leaders. These were not hounded by party politics, as they were recruited from outside parliament and could handle affairs of state without worrying too much about the political ramifications.
I think we can all agree that the management of the South African electricity crisis from the first smoke signals some 25 years ago has been poor, to put it mildly. From indecision over privatization in the early years to opportunism and the subsequent wave of corruption that followed the hasty construction of two coal-fired power plants in Medupi and Kusile, it has been the biggest government failure in three decades.
However we get out of this hole, what is clear is that a politician is not the person to drag us out. No matter how well-meaning, be it Gwede Mantashe or Pravin Gordhan, the general apathy and lack of confidence in the ANC’s ability to oversee Eskom and the expansion of our power grid is too great for the citizens and the world to bear. of investments exceed it. .
So perhaps President Cyril Ramaphosa is right, and you should give him credit: we need our own Mario Draghi, the ultimate technocratic leader to save Italy. I have been considering the creation of a Minister of Electricity, or “project manager” as Mantashe has dismissed it, and the names that might be tempted to take over, now that he is here.
This is all speculative, I know, but there are names that wouldn’t bother anyone in the ANC or among the opposition parties, like the Democratic Alliance. The response of the Economic Freedom Fighters is anyone’s guess.
The Chairman of the Public Investment Corporation and director of some of our blue chip companies, Reuel Khoza, is a name that intrigued me. As Eskom’s chairman from 1997 to 2002, he warned Thabo Mbeki’s administration about the electricity deficit.
Like all of us, matters related to your former employer are still of interest. Last October, at a webinar hosted by the Center for Business and Development on leadership in South Africa, he called for qualified engineers and craftsmen to be called in to address the Eskom crisis. He said the state should not interfere with Eskom’s day-to-day running saying that, as its sole shareholder, the state should behave as such and ensure there is a strong board and be held accountable at annual general meetings.
It would certainly bring a level of confidence to most stakeholders, in the same way that Thulani Gcabashe, Eskom’s CEO between 2000 and 2007, would. I’m sure you know better than anyone the history of Eskom and why it is where it is. is today; she warned about this potential outcome. Gcabashe stepped down as chairman and director of Standard Bank last May, her highest-profile directorship.
Then there is the case of Daniel Mminele, a former deputy governor of the Reserve Bank and briefly chief executive of Absa. I felt his departure from public service to the private sector was a loss at the time and wasn’t too surprised that Absa’s corporate ruse was too much to navigate. (After Absa, I’m sure politics can’t scare him.) He recently decided not to renew his contract as head of the President’s Climate Finance Task Force, tasked with finalizing an $8.5 billion deal for the country.
Once promoted as a possible finance minister, given the strength of the leadership at the Reserve Bank, maybe, just maybe, the project of overseeing our most urgent crisis could prove attractive.
These are just three candidates that I have selected. There are others that one could find who could fill the position of “Draghi” in the government, who would need the support and protection of the president. To be fair, given how reluctant she has been to reorganizing his cabinet, he is, if anything, loyal to the men and women of his cabinet, unlike his predecessor.
As we wait for the president to reshuffle his cabinet in the coming weeks, and the economy continues to struggle under the weight of load reductions that has Absa warning of a technical recession (two consecutive quarters of negative growth), we can only speculate on what to expect. it could happen. These are my only two cents.
