Deputy Speaker, hon Minister, the public did not deserve this. Our most important public enterprise has been treated like a children's playground, with each spin of the merry-go-round revealing a different person in charge. We simply cannot afford this kind of power vacuum at Eskom at a time when it is asking the public for exponential tariff increases and the government is having to guarantee loans of up to R300 billion for it.
Government should have come out in support of the board at the very outset of this debacle and not allowed the chief executive officer and organisations like the ANC Youth League to turn this tragedy into a farce. The worst aspect of this though is how the public and indeed Parliament were kept in the dark about these developments with no one in government providing the much-needed political leadership. Whoever ends up running Eskom, it is clear that a major overhaul of the governance of this institution is required if the public is to regain trust in Eskom and its ability to provide energy security for our nation. I thank you.