In 2023, Eskom, the South African national power utility, celebrated its 100th anniversary. Founded in 1923 to ensure power supply to support increasing industrialisation, particularly in the mining sector, its initial success has been tainted in more recent years by increasing dysfunction.
Many factors have contributed to Eskom’s decline, but one of the most prominent is that the institution has been beset by corruption of all kinds and at all levels. Involving amounts as small as R5 000 to as large as billions of rands, corruption has contributed to intractable debt, operational breakdowns, decay of the physical plant and an inability to “keep the lights on”. While the last four months without loadshedding have given us hope that the massive efforts being invested in the turnaround strategy are gaining traction, there is still a pressing need to address the cultural, systemic and governance failures that allow corruption to persist. It may not be happening on the grand scale of State Capture, but as this report reflects, it seems to have become normalised and endemic.
“Fixing” Eskom is not simply about maintaining and repairing the physical plant (although this is obviously critical). Profound culture transformation is required, broken and easily subverted procurement processes must be re-engineered, governance failures must be addressed and those found guilty of any kind of involvement in corrupt activity must be promptly, visibly, and decisively dealt with.
Beyond the lessons for Eskom as an organisation highlighted above, there are also distinct learnings regarding how crime and
corruption come about and how it is sustained across society. It is essential to realise that Eskom’s problems cannot be fixed by only focusing internally on the company and its stakeholders. Eskom is, in many ways, the product of society and its flawed institutions, and its return to organisational integrity requires systemic thinking. The problems experienced by Eskom form part of a “bigger picture” of corruption, which requires more attention from the government, researchers, civil society, and businesses.
