Eskom chair explains how they are REALLY keeping the lights on (and it's not what de Ruyter said)

South Africa has just enjoyed a 43rd consecutive day without loadshedding.

There is speculation of course that this is connected to the upcoming elections, and winning favour for the ruling party.

This week also, former CEO André de Ruyter attributed the continuous power supply to Eskom burning diesel 'at a rate of knots'. He was speaking at the PSG Financial Services Annual Conference on Wednesday.

Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa has been at pains to state that the loadshedding reprieve has nothing to do with the 29 May polls.

Bruce Whitfield interviews Eskom chairperson Mteto Nyati to find out exactly what is going on at the power utility.

Ramokgopa dispels 'the myth that Eskom is buying itself out of load shedding situation'

Nyati says Eskom are getting close to a stage where continuous power supply will become normal again.

He attributes the turnaround to a plan that was developed with management when a new board was appointed in October 2022, and approved in March of 2023.

The Eskom chair notes that the previous management had not had the resources to fund the maintenance at the core of this plan, which the current board subsequently arranged to have approved by National Treasury.

At its basic level, this is really about accelerating and executing planned maintenance, Nyati explains.

"With this planned maintenance we've done, we made sure that we are partnering with the original equipment manufacturers. So, when we take a plant down, we work with the people that have deep expertise around that plant working alongside with us and transferring some of the skills and knowledge that may have been lost."

"This is a change from the past, where it used to be done by people who had limited or no understanding of the equipment."

Mteto Nyati, Chairperson - Eskom

Although this plan seems to have evolved during the dying days of de Ruyter's reign, Nyati says the ex-CEO wasn't actually there, and that is why he is not taking any credit for its success.

The key person implementing it was Bheki Nxumalo, Eskom's Group Executive for Generation, Nyati goes on.

Whitfield asks the Eskom chair whether he can say unequivocally that there is absolutely no connection between a looming election and a suspension in loadshedding.

Nyati emphasizes that 'we are not playing any political games'.

"Our focus is to help sort out the challenges that are facing our country; there is absolutely no connection between the two things."

"It is such a painful thing that we're experiencing, mostly the board, because we're (being painted as) this board that's driving things for a certain political party when we're actually individuals who are highly skilled and competent, who have taken this role to try and help South Africa."

"The reason we are where we are now is because of the expertise of these people that have been working very hard, together with management, to get us to this point."

Mteto Nyati, Chairperson - Eskom