ANC’s inaction monopoly

It’s hard to disagree with ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula that “the ANC does not have the monopoly of ideas” (“ANC responsible for energy crisis, says Mbalula”, January 26). It’s less easy to imagine it accepting competing ideas.

The official reaction to 15 or so years of loadshedding has been a progression of reassurances, war rooms and committees, emergency plans, stakeholder consultations, consensus building, mobilising this, strengthening that and accelerating something else. It mirrors official responses to just about every other serious failing.

An unmistakably statist mindset means ideas put forward are likely to be held in abeyance for further consideration, glaringly visible in the leisurely pace at which privately generated power procurement has proceeded.

As SA languishes in a malaise that threatens its economic prospects, with all its social outcomes, Eskom and the government remain committed to policies that hike prices and undermine efficiencies. That’s before poor implementation enables them to be leveraged for corruption and patronage. Think of empowerment demands in procurement or localisation requirements.

Think also of racial quotas through the pending Employment Equity Amendment Act, or — if Solidarity’s claims are to be believed (and they have a depressing ring of familiarity about them)

— more aggressive racial engineering of Eskom’s workforce while skills constraints remain an acknowledged contributor to the power crisis.

The ANC has no monopoly on ideas, but some ideas seem to exercise a monopoly over the party and the government it heads. If ever there was a monopoly in need of breaking up, this is it.

Terence Corrigan Institute of Race Relations