South Africa must hold former President Thabo Mbeki, and his administration accountable for setting Eskom on a path of failure. This is the contention of the South African Federation of Trade Unions’ General Secretary, Zwelinzima Vavi. He was speaking as former Eskom official, Dan Marokane has been appointed as the utility’s CEO. He will likely take up his position no later than March next year. Marokane was a victim of the alleged Gupta influence at the power utility, as he was ousted from Eskom in 2015.

But Vavi contends that former President Mbeki should also be held responsible for failing to listen to the advice of Eskom before the onset of load shedding. Eskom executives had then called for investment in the utility’s infrastructure, but this was ignored. Vavi says that by that time, Mbeki was already pushing towards the privatisation Eskom, and did not want to invest in the power utility.