The ANC’s Economic Sabotage of Electricity

Despite having become almost desensitized to the daily disclosures of corruption, fraud and outright looting, what exceeds all of that because of its inescapable blanket effect on the entire country is the reason for the price of electricity.

It should be unconscionable even to contemplate enriching fewer than 100 people at the expense of the entire population and the country’s economy. But that is exactly what the  ANC did. Ideologically obsessed with racial representivity, the ANC scuttled Eskom’s pre-1994 agreements with coal mines, which had provided South Africa with the cheapest electricity in the world.

According to Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa’s recent statement, it was necessary to end those historic contracts, which were dominated by whites, in order to reflect black ownership as a consequence of ‘transformation.’

One would have thought that low-cost electricity would be a huge helping hand in uplifting the previously disadvantaged. Instead, the ANC prioritized an elite to profit obscenely from drastically increased coal prices to Eskom. Not only has the resultant exorbitant cost of electricity impoverished, but the ANC has thereby deterred economic expansion and exacerbated unemployment. This can only be described as economic sabotage.

Thanks to this racist transformation ideology, 3,000 jobs were lost last year when the high cost of power forced the closure of two of the Glencore-Merafe ferrochrome smelters in North West province. Rising power costs and load shedding impacted the energy-intensive smelting process of the Arcelor-Mittal steel plant in Newcastle, which caused it to cease operations. Directly and indirectly, 3,500 jobs were affected as ideology shut down a core 78-year-old regional industry.

There is no aspect of modern life that does not require electricity – especially charging a cellphone – so the impact of ever-increasing electricity costs is all-encompassing. In 2023, R500 purchased 194 kWh at R2.57 per kWh. Currently, R500 buys only 132 kWh at R3.77 per kWh. From July, the cost is slated to increase by 10,5%, which means R500 will buy only 120 kWh at R4.14 per kWh. So in three years, the household cost of electricity has risen by almost 40%.

Clearly, these increases are not sustainable. Yet they are the costs the ANC has seen fit to inflict in order to enrich fewer than 100 of their henchmen, which is why affordability should be the only issue in the 2026 elections. For that reason and many others, South Africa can no longer afford the ANC.