Johannesburg – The latest energy crisis has led the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) to label the African National Congress (ANC) as a failed government. This comes from the ANC’s failure to maintain Eskom and deliver electricity.
The situation of constant power failures and the inability to provide electricity has impacted the economy in a drastic way. Sandile Swana, Political Analyst, backs the statement made by IFP. This is because the ANC were warned the country could suffer from loadshedding if more power stations were not built.
According to Swana, pre 1994, Eskom was producing surplus electricity. Furthermore, they were also reducing their workforce, increasing their electricity output while also keeping costs at a bare minimum. In 1996 the Southern African Development Community (SADC) met to discuss how to ensure the SADC region became power secure.
“[They] identified clearly what the power shortages are going to be and what needs to be done to make sure the entirety of the SADC region becomes power secure. For that, a cabinet paper was presented in 1998 to say South Africa must start building power stations. So that by 2007 South Africa did not run out of power. Each power station would take five to seven years to build.”
This was provided to the Mbeki cabinet, but these measures were not acted upon, said Swana.
The ANC has compromised the safety of the country
Loadshedding has hampered the economy as well as compromised the safety of the citizens of the country. The failure of the ANC to adhere to SADC’s measures has made the country vulnerable from a security, economical and health point of view, said Swana.
“Every area where there is a power failure, it compromises the security of the state installations, government infrastructure and the citizens in that area. It compromises the communication systems in the country. It compromises the defence force, their communication systems as well as the police … You cannot have hospitals where power keeps going off and to rely on other devices that were not meant for that purpose.”
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The ANC are incompetent
Many believe the ANC is sabotaging Eskom in order to privatise like they planned in the 1990’s. Swana rejects this idea as Telkom was privatised without this. He, however, points to three attributes the ANC have which has led to the demise of Eskom.
“The first one is the ANC has populated the public sector with incompetent people. Number two there’s a problem with corruption. Then there is a problem with non-performance. When the lights don’t go on in your house, it’s a problem of non-performance. It is a manifestation of non-performance which is rooted in corruption and incompetence … The ANC are no longer fit to govern South Africa.”
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Which party is competent to run the country?
There are those who wish to see the ANC removed but have no idea who to vote for. The issue for Swana is not about picking one person but having a coalition to run things.
“Now the issue is not to say who exactly, one precise person, one precise organisation must take over from the ANC. The people of South Africa, through the ballot box, are able to distribute their votes to Action SA, EFF, DA, IFP and others. This is to signal that these different formations must form a government in the proportions that the voters have told them to do so. That is exactly what we are going to see.”
For Swana, the best from each party must come together to move the country forward into a brighter future.
In the past, the ANC has been known to distribute food parcels to win the votes of people. This indicates to Swana the ANC buys their support. They do not have genuine support. If the country bands together, it will mean the end of the ANC and perhaps a better future.
