Column by Ian Kilbride

Remember that lovely advert with Eskom lighting up the world, a dreamy shot from outer space as Eskom “our powerhouse, our trusted First World Style energy producer” not only powered up the whole of South Africa, but the whole of the continent? Well, it seems that they may still be powering the rest of Africa because they have “long-term contracts and commitments”. What does that say about their attitude to us, their domestic CLIENTS!

Let’s face it, though, this goes so much deeper. Eskom and Telkom have zero competition in SA; they are monopolies that feed off our capital. Remember they are fed off our taxes, and they then sell us back their product at a price they set, or is that fix?

So when state organs mess up it is fair to fire all those self-congratulatory managers who awarded themselves massive bonuses for selling a product only they could sell! But it is, however, time to go after those who sat back and failed us even more. The politicians in SA who oversee “monopolies” have a massive obligation and they have failed miserably.

How bright do you have to be to realise that if you produce a vital product, without any competition whatsoever, and you are only keeping up with the demand, when the state is spending hundreds of billions on infrastructure over the next twenty years, you will need more product, especially concrete, bricks, steel and – HELLO – electricity!

What you don’t do is mothball and close power stations and open nothing new except units that cost $2 000 000 a day in diesel alone! Yes, there are two “Peak Units”, diesel powered stations, in the Cape running 24 hours a day, when their real function in life was just to help the peak periods. What great planning!

It should be good-bye Mr Minister and anyone else who sat on their behind watching. Good-bye Eskom exec directors and hello new team and how about some “real” competition!

So are there any analogies we can draw from all of this mess? Well actually yes! The government is the financial advisor, the utility is the financial institution and we are just the abused clients!

We never had anyone looking after our interests, they just looked after themselves or were at best apathetic! So the wrong decisions were made and the wrong products purchased and all of a sudden our money ran out. It was the wrong pension, wrong investment and no one really cares.

So let’s slap our politicians, not worship them, as that is what they are there for. Let’s slap any IFA giving wrong advice and let’s focus on “Service Delivery”, two dirty words at the moment that need to become a descriptor of how we run our lives and expect others to run theirs.

If any financial advisor had acted with such negligence and stupidly as Eskom, or the ministers who oversee Eskom, they would have lost their licence and livelihood long ago and quite rightly so.

As a result, I say “More Power to the People,” and let’s hope good advice never ends up being rationed!

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