Deputy President David Mabuza has told Parliament that the country has the tools to make Eskom “fully functional”.
Mabuza was back in Parliament on Thursday where he was again quizzed about the struggling power utility and the energy crisis.
Mabuza faced questions from the members of the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) on energy, anti-corruption, and flood relief efforts in KwaZulu-Natal.
The deputy president was back before Parliament on Thursday after a lengthy recess to face members on a range of issues.
On the energy crisis, Mabuza said that power cuts remained a major problem, but privatising Eskom was not an option.
He said that the country had to find a solution to get Eskom up and running and this did not include privatization.
“I think we just need to get the utility working and ensure that there’s sound governance structures, the required skills level at Eskom at a power plant level and we can run this utility. We’ve managed in the past to run this utility and we can’t fail,” Mabuza said.
He said that the National Energy Crisis Committee set up by the president would focus on five interventions, which include reducing the severity and frequency of power cuts.
Mabuza said that the country needed additional generation capacity and external energy could be brought in from outside of Eskom in the meantime.
-EWN
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