Still in the dark about Eskom, but rumours rage
November 12, 2009
In the absence of word from Eskom, rumours circulating about the shenanigans along the mahogany row of the state-owned enterprise had by yesterday reached near-epic proportions.
A search on Google News for "Eskom" and "Jacob Maroga" yielded more than 400 reports, some of them speculative, others making valiant attempts to make sense of the saga, and yet others offering the insights of organisations one might think had the barest of connections to the power utility, such as the ANC Youth League.
By far the most interesting allegations to emerge yesterday were outlined in a letter dated Monday, and delivered to the Mail & Guardian's (M&G's) offices, purportedly an updated version of an anonymous letter sent two months ago to Public Enterprises Minister Barbara Hogan.
M&G Online provided a link to the letter, unsigned but attributed to "Eskom senior management" who accused chief executive Maroga of creating "total paralysis" of Eskom due to "gross incompetence" and trying to prove he was better than his predecessors.
In an apparently pre-emptive attempt to steer clear of being labelled racists, they praised former chief executive Thulani Gcabashe and called for another black chief executive to take Maroga's place.
Among the long list of incompetence blamed on Maroga was that he left items on the executive agenda undecided as he could not make the "simplest of decisions".
They further alleged he held matters in abeyance indefinitely as he consulted "with his American advisers, who are kept on retention for over millions per annum, and who are privy to all sensitive and confidential information, without having to declare their interests". This is presumably a reference to Telein Group, the organisational change specialists that Maroga defended hiring in a strategy document submitted to the board last month (the same document in which he criticised over-reliance on outside experts).
They went on to issue the somewhat cryptic statement: "We call upon Mr Maroga not to blackmail this country, by citing his act of delaying the price application to after the elections, as a favour owed to him."
Assuming this is true, what will the ANC Youth League and Black Management Forum come up with to defend their man now?
Manufacturing depression
There is good news and there is bad news. The bad news is that the manufacturing sector is still deeply depressed. The good news is that this sector, which shed 194 000 jobs in the year to September, is showing signs of a slow recovery.
According to data released by Statistics SA this week, manufacturing production contracted 11.4 percent year on year in September, although a steep decline this was an improvement on the 15 percent decline in the year to August. On a quarterly basis, seasonally adjusted manufacturing production for the third quarter increased by 2.6 percent compared with the second quarter with higher production reported by six out of 10 manufacturing divisions.
These included the motor vehicles, parts and accessories divisions, which recorded a sharp recovery of 8.9 percent in the third quarter compared with the second quarter. Other sectors that are doing better are basic iron and steel products, basic chemicals and plastic products.
Johan Rossouw, an economist at Vunani Securities, said the recovery in the motor industry could be pinned on improved exports as European car scrapping incentives created a surge in demand for vehicles.
Even with these glimmers of hope, high unemployment, with almost 1 million jobs lost, is not going to be eradicated any time soon, and high debt means that local demand is expected to remain weak.
Interest rates are unlikely to fall further and when rates do move (possibly by the end of next year) it will be up again. So for those servicing debt it would be wise over the next 12 months to clear as much of it as possible.
Pride and parastatals
When President Jacob Zuma announced that Barbara Hogan would be moved from the health portfolio to public enterprises, there were a lot of people in the health fraternity who were disappointed.
This had a lot to do with the "positive and refreshing attitude" that those in the private health care sector felt she had brought to the portfolio, which saw relations between the industry and the government improve for the first time in ages.
Hogan was praised for swiftly changing the way the government had handled its response to the HIV/Aids epidemic. She averted court action by pharmacist and general practitioners over dispensing fees.
However, the authoritative leadership she displayed at health is somewhat absent at public enterprises. The Eskom leadership confusion over the past two weeks has shown just how not in control Hogan is. Her department could not clarify if chief executive Jacob Maroga had resigned or not and clearly she did not know what the Eskom board was doing.
A day after she defended Maroga in Parliament, the board announced that the chief executive had resigned and it was the ANC Youth League that informed the country that Maroga was in fact still in charge at Megawatt Park.
Even now, it is still not clear if Maroga has resigned or not. In his resignation letter, Bobby Godsell, the former board chairperson at Eskom, complained about lack of support from the shareholder, which is the government that Hogan represents.
The Eskom drama joins the succession battle at Transnet which has turned nasty with Siyabonga Gama suspended. And Armscor. At the beginning of her tenure, Hogan tried to show that she wanted the best out of the parastatals when she said perhaps underperforming state-owned enterprises should be privatised. The problem with that statement was that she made it barely a month into the job, did not consult anyone and has been criticised for it.
Who knows, maybe that is why she is now reluctant to assert her authority.
Edited by Peter DeIonno. With contributions by Ingi Salgado, Samantha Enslin-Payne and Slindile Khanyile
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