Kaput: Things fall apart (at Eskom)
One thing we can say about 2022 is that it has been a dark year - literally.
We've had stage 6 load shedding in June, July and again in September.
And if you were hoping President Cyril Ramaphosa's return from the UK after attending Queen Elizabeth's funeral would see things improve - think again.
Professor Mark Swilling, in an interview with eNCA this week, said we should expect two more years of load shedding.
He added the situation was unpredictable and unreliable because old and poorly maintained power stations continually broke down.
If the situation is going to change, then new generation needs to be added to the grid.
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It's not like the government wasn't aware. As far back as 1998, the warning lights were on. Plans were put in place, but for a variety of reasons, those plans were not implemented.
In this week's Friday Briefing, News24's investigative journalist, Kyle Cowan, lays the blame at the ANC's door for our current crisis, writing we are now dealing with the consequences of treating technical, expensive and purpose-built infrastructure without the proper care.
Energy analyst Hilton Trollip analyses the troubled history of our country's electricity crisis and how it has impacted the chances of getting enough functioning generation capacity onto the South African grid, thereby affecting our economy.
Finally, brand reputation expert Solly Moeng takes a look at how the crisis is impacting on the country's image worldwide.
Hope you have enough candles to give you some light this weekend.
Best,
Vanessa Banton
Opinions editor
Broken by ignorance, greed and arrogance, Eskom is the ANC's greatest failure
The people of South Africa have been robbed of economic opportunities and jobs by the basic failures of the ANC to understand Eskom, and it's an even bigger failure to realise that its policies and the loyal, deployed cadres inflicted irreparable damage on the utility, writes Kyle Cowan.
Eskom crisis: A perfect storm which has been a long time in the making
Confused government policy, lack of and severely delayed policy implementation, privatisation, the coal baseload vs renewable energy conflict, and corruption continue to bedevil chances of getting enough functioning generation capacity onto the South African grid, writes Hilton Trollip.
Mr President, South Africans are gatvol of living in the dark
It has been almost 10 years since President Cyril Ramaphosa, in his previous capacity, was tasked with overseeing Eskom's turnaround. Nearly a decade later, South Africa's people are gatvol and Eskom risks delivering the coup de grace to what remains of the country's fast diminishing global image, says Solly Moeng.
