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Eskom's 'outrageous' tariff hike will marginalise millions - Ravi Pillay

Durban – A senior KwaZulu-Natal MEC and politician has spoken out against the proposed Eskom tariff increase, describing it as unfair to average South Africans.

Human Settlements MEC and member of the provincial executive of the ANC, Ravi Pillay, on Friday told News24 that the price hike would marginalise millions.

“There have been billions siphoned out of Eskom through corruption. It is outrageous to come with a 19% tariff increase. How can we reasonably and with integrity defend that in the public domain? How do we not lose public confidence?”

Pillay was speaking to News24 outside of the Moerane Commission into political killings in the province.

He was part of a top tier ANC provincial delegation, led by ANC provincial chairperson Sihle Zikalala, that was testifying.

Eskom has applied for a 19.9% increase, which effectively means that municipal customers could end up paying up to 28% more for power in July next year.

The National Energy Regulator (Nersa) has given Eskom the go ahead to hold hearings on the viability of an increase.

Poor will be hit the hardest

Pillay was outspoken in his criticism of the hike and said it would severely impact the poor. He said 17 million people living on grants would be seriously impacted in the purchase of food because of the hike.

It was vital to speak out strongly against the increase and take decisive action against it, Pillay added.

He said the price hike would negatively affect costs for businesses.

“We want to promote manufacturing and have a positive impact on business. A price increase would have a [negative] ripple effect on business.”

Eskom leadership must fall

Pillay was also candid with his opinion of leadership at Eskom.

“The way to move forward is to clean out at top level leadership. I think it is happening. There have been suspensions. We need a new level of leadership at the board and competence at administrative levels.”

He said the parastatal could easily be compared to multi-national corporations around the world.

“[For this] we need capable people at the top level. Eskom is a technical organisation in the sense that it generates power. It requires a special level of expertise in terms of its operations."

He said that the amount of money siphoned out of Eskom illegitimately was "frightening".

“There was a report that said Eskom has 100 forensic investigations a year. We accept we are still in the transformation phase in SA, but 23 years on, we need to get it right in a very sharp way where these SOEs become examples of best practice.”

He said it was positive that some action had been taken.

“It is encouraging that those processes are under way, but we must walk the talk as we go forward in doing the things.”

Anoj Singh, chief financial officer of Eskom, was the latest senior employee to be suspended pending a disciplinary hearing.

Singh was placed on special leave at the end of July by Eskom's Board of Directors until an investigation into his conduct had been concluded. His exit followed mounting allegations that he was involved in irregularly awarding contracts to Gupta-linked businesses, while receiving gifts and trips from the controversial family.

Fin24 previously reported that Singh’s special leave was brought on by Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba and Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown following a threat by the Development Bank of SA (DBSA) that it would retract its R15bn loan if no action was taken against Singh.

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