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Hidden Eskom
Photo by Axel Bührmann
//Since 1997 the ANC government has used various methods to fend-off criticism. These have run from attacking motive to bullying, obfuscation, bullshitting, lying, and outright denial. Over time civil society and media became inured to these tactics. So it was something of a welcome surprise when senior government officials – including the president and his deputy – started admitting responsibility for South Africa’s energy shortages.
The basic line pushed by President Thabo Mbeki (and others) was that government underestimated the likely rate of economic growth and wrongly ignored Eskom’s warnings that it needed to start building new capacity. For this they were very sorry.
These apologies have not silenced criticism, but they have been very effective in drawing attention away from where it should have been focused. This is known, in other fields, as misdirection. A Wikipedia entry notes how "The magician choreographs his actions so that even the critical and observant spectators are likely to look where the magician wants them to. More importantly, they do not look where they should not." One way of doing this is through movement, whereby "A larger action covers a smaller action."
Similarly, it is to the government’s advantage to admit to failing to approve the building of new generating capacity on time. At worst they can be accused of ideological prevarication. Meanwhile, our gaze is shifted away from places where the ANC would prefer it not to wander. One of these is the way in which the ANC funding vehicle – Chancellor House – has been cut-in on massive contracts for the building of the Bravo and Madupi power stations. The other relates to the way in which the Eskom’s racial obsessions were responsible for last week’s massive black outs.//
www.politicsweb.co.za/iservice/eskom-the-real-cause-of-th…
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