I am starting to believe that President Cyril Ramaphosa reads this page every week.
Indulge me for a moment.
It’s not the first time that he makes a decree or policy decision of some sort, a few weeks after I had proposed it here.
Now I know it’s probably a simple coincidence, but then some people don’t believe in coincidences. Or maybe it’s just that the thing I’m proposing is the most logical next step in solving whatever the problem happens to be.
But I have to admit that it suits my ego to believe that I may have sparked the decision. Let me explain.
The president has decided to deploy SANDF members to protect Eskom infrastructure.
The soldiers are tasked with protecting substations and power units, since it has become clear that some are deliberately being sabotaged, presumably so that maintenance tenders have to be awarded.
Two weeks ago, I wrote an open letter to the new minister of electricity, in which I proposed this course of action.
I wrote: “This is a crisis that requires crisis-like intervention. Create jobs by repairing all Eskom’s generators with laser focus. Deploy soldiers to guard those generators alongside armed civilians.”
You see now why I am claiming some credit for the fact that last week Ramaphosa authorised the deployment of 880 soldiers to do just that.
OK so he didn’t do the bit about “armed civilians”, but I understand how such a move is a dicey proposition, what with the possibility of trigger-happy vigilantes taking their load-shedding frustrations out on suspects, instead of arresting them.
Now that I got that out of my system, let me dial down the humility and be clear that this is obviously not about me.
It is very obviously about tackling Eskom’s problems bit by bit, in unique ways, using obvious solutions that are relatively easy to implement.
Our soldiers are not fighting any wars and – as far as I can tell – aren’t preparing for any pending invasion.
They mostly participate in peace-keeping missions and military exercises that serve no practical purpose for the citizens who pay their salaries.
Yes of course we have responsibilities towards our neighbours and treaties, like Sadec, which we must meet. But what good are our international obligations, if we are suffering here at home?
It’s like the old wisdom about helping yourself first, before helping others. Using our soldiers – who for all intents and purposes, are sitting idle – is us helping ourselves.
Most of us don’t even care that this will cost north of R140-million – much less than the fortunes that have been plundered from the likes of Eskom over the years, with no benefit to anyone other than the plunderers.
So this is money well spent and sends a clear message to the selfish saboteurs that the government is prepared to do whatever it takes to deal with the crippling load shedding.
I say increase the spend and add more soldiers. I even have a name for them: Power Rangers. You’re welcome.
The next step needs to be to declare each and every substation and generation unit a national key point, giving them extra constitutional protection that unlocks further funds and safeguards.
Maybe that will allow the president to keep the soldiers on duty at Eskom infrastructure beyond the termination date of October 17. Because we all know what’s going to happen after that, don’t we?
breinou@gmail.com