Is Eskom bankrupt?
20 March 2008, 12:30
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Eishkom, shame on you guys
24 March 2008, 12:18
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It has to be said.
You guys at Eishkom really take the biscuit. (I'd say cake, but who knows if there's going to be power to make it rise on baking day.)
No sooner has Trevor Manuel benevolently bestowed upon you umpteen million rand of our hard-earned taxes, than you demand another, even heftier slice of the pie.
The announcement last week by cabinet that we might be on a rollercoaster ride to an electricity hike in excess of the 60 percent already proposed by our power provider, has most of us wondering whether we'll be able to put food on the table, never mind heat it!
Significantly, for once, it's not just the DA that's squealing.
The ANC and Cosatu have lent their voices to the protest against this outrageous proposal, aimed ostensibly at covering projected increases in the price of coal and diesel.
What seems more likely, given the astronomical "performance" bonuses dished out to senior Eskom officials recently, is that we are providing the padding underneath the rumps of those riding the gravy train.
Yes, a policy is being drafted to ensure that the poor are not penalised as heavily as the well-to-do for power.
It ignores the fact, though, that the poor are generally more heavily reliant on paraffin as a power source.
That, naturally, will soar with the increases in fuel prices.
The really rich will absorb things effortlessly, as they always do, and the remainder of us will bow under another burden, as we always do.
It promises, indeed, to be the "winter of our discontent".
On a brighter note, my offspring finally sprung into full survivor mode when the new wave of load-shedding began last week. He was delighted to get to play with all the gas gadgets I'd bankrupted myself buying and a jolly boy scout romp ensued.
By the time we'd chopped 101 ingredients for stir-fry, the power supply had been resumed, but for once, we weren't going to let Eishkom spoil the fun, so the lights and TV stayed off and the family caught up on together time over bowls of our tasty oriental supper.
Felt good to thumb our noses at the powers-that-be.
You should try it sometime.
Another way to up the ante is to buy a couple of cows, and cut Eskom out of the loop altogether.
On Thursday our sister paper, The Mercury, ran a story about an Eston sugar-cane farmer who is generating 11 000 kWh a month from chicken litter; enough to power his entire farm.
By using a process called anaerobic digestion, he extracts methane from the manure. This is then compressed into bottles.
Now that's something my son would really have fun with!
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