Madam House Chair, this debate should have taken place as early as 2013, when the construction of Medupi and Kusile power stations were virtually cumbersome.
We should have the raised alarm when we were warned by Finance24 that the preferential tariffs for the two BHP Billiton smelters, at Hillside in Richards Bay and Mozal in Maputo, enabled the two lossmaking smelters to be sustained while the rest of the country's consumers, both households and industries paid higher prices as far as electricity is concerned.
The Standing Committee on Public Accounts, Scopa, should have called Mr Ben Ngubane when Eskom was subsidising Optimum Coal at a loss. Mr Zola Tsotsi, former Eskom Chairman should have raised the alarm when politicians were meddling in Eskom's affairs.
House Chair, Eskom's problems are self-inflicted. Our country's growth is depended on the reliable, clean and efficient energy security. Eskom has to be unbundled. It has a huge responsibility that cannot be left to
politicians alone. We need to lower the electricity costs and improve the electricity supply.
This is possibly feasible in an environment where competition in the generation and transmission of electricity is allowed.
House Chair, we are also disenchanted by the attitude of the trade unions in shaping the debate about the unbundling of Eskom. They tend to be oppositionists in this regard. This kneejerk reaction is unscientific, ill- informed and merely pedestrian.
We hope that the current board will scale up the process of maintaining the plants at the power utility including the colliers and power stations. Thank you very much, Madam House Chair.