Share

Slight relief for Eskom in top 10 comments

Cape Town - Its been a mild media week for Eskom as the supplier managed to keep the lights on over the Freedom Day long weekend, unfortunately SA has raised concerns with commentators as it fell out of a foreign investment index.

However, not all commentators were impressed with Eskom's six-day winning run which raised the sarcasm barometer in the comments section sky high. User Ria Cook said "Yes, let's give each of the 500 top "execs" at Eskom a R1m bonus!" while Mervyn Trollip asked "What do they want, a cookie?".

An article reporting that 'Take-home pay still way above inflation' raised objections to the inflation data with user Pieter de Jongh remarking "You can't compare apples and pears!".

Commentators also had much to say about AfriForum taking Eskom to court to avoid power cuts, creating a thread of responses after a user compared municipalities to a retail store by way of analogy.

Below is the fourth weekly dose of top ten Fin24 user comments selected for their wit, value-add to the topic at hand and contribution to healthy debate in a country so much in need of constructive dialogue.

Top ten users comments on:

SA falls out of favour with foreign investors:

1. Merlin Hendricks – Its not just SA, but the whole of Africa who's affected. African economies have boasted some of the best growth rates in years, yet nobody is seriously interested in investing here.

Why? Is it because we are seen as a continent who is only responsible for the net exports of raw and precious materials? And that real money is being made at the manufacturers, who nearly doubles their prices once goods are produced? - READ STORY

Eskom going for 6 days of no load shedding:

2. David Callanan - We've not had cold weather in much of the country's most populated cities, and due to all the public holidays the electricity demand has been much lower than usual. Predominantly sunny weather has also helped those with solar panels and solar geysers offset demand from Eskom. When everyone's back at work and the first "mother of all cold fronts" sweeps across the country let's see what happens... - READ STORY

Take-home pay still way above inflation:

3. Pieter de Jongh - The problem is that the inflation figures aren't calculated on exactly what hits our pockets. If my total outgoings were only going up 4%, then I would be happy, but it's not, it's going up by a lot more than that. You can't compare apples and pears!!! - READ STORY

4. Heinrich Badenhorst - Definitely. Inflation is nowhere near 4%. Food prices went up 20 to 30% every year. And don't even start about buying property or just a small budget car. Consumers are just worse off every year and they keep spouting same inflation data - who calculates that stuff??? - READ STORY

5. Elizabeth Bester - These people must be smoking their socks, my salary may well have increased however once all the school fees and medical aid etc went up, I am now in fact clearing less after everything has been paid. Groceries are certainly no cheaper and although fuel may have been slightly cheaper for a very short period of time, I now, after the increase in fuel levies and taxes pay R13.22 per litre. So they need to come down from lala land and take a good hard look at reality - READ STORY

Group turns to court to halt Eskom power cuts over debt:

6. Sloppycowtits - I am not to sure about this one Afriforum. Though I have to agree that cutting off paying customers is a raw deal, Eskom has contracts directly with the municipalities not the end users. Good standing customers are going to be cut off due to there municipalities mismanagement and any loss or legal action because of disruptions should be between the end user and the municipality.

Our country has a power crisis, if municipalities are not contributing financially towards our grid they are better off to be off the grid. I really believe this hard stance taken by Eskom is by far one the best decisions I have seen in a long time. The effect that this is going to have on municipal areas I really believe will rock the corruption and rot of these areas, and make municipalities more accountable.

I really feel bad for those upstanding residents but what other recourse is there? - READ STORY

7. Adriaan Bergh - I'm a paying citizen that lives in one of the mentioned municipalities. My question is : If you, for example, buy clothes from Edgars but Edgars doesn't pay it's suppliers, does the suppliers have the right to come and take back your clothes?? Absolutely not! It's Edgars responsibility to pay it's suppliers and hand over the accounts not paid. It is the municipality's responsibility to cut power of non payers and pay it's suppliers. Not allowing it's debt to ruse to these limits - READ MORE

8. VlamJVV - If Edgars could not supply clothing anymore, consumers still have hundreds of other options from where they can clothes. When it comes to electricity though, we have no alternative thanks to the monopoly that Eskom holds.

That is the difference. Here is a better comparison. If the government pays money to a public school to pay salaries and provide services and they use the money for their own benefit, the school won't be shut down and the children wont be refused an education. No. The guilty employees will be fired and replaced with new more efficient people. The children would at no point be punished for the crimes of the employees - READ MORE

Water department berated over slow BEE:

9. Grizzlybear - You can't just make it black for black's sake. There needs to be knowledge and skills transfer, and that takes time. Have we not learnt from Eskom? Lulu will be the first one hiding and not taking responsibility when we have no/unsafe water...Please people - READ MORE

10. Bryan Pistol Sebola - Some industries are capital intensive, requiring huge capital injection to start up, hence you will not see many black people in that industry due to its nature. We now have a multi-billion rand project by the DTI to create 100 black industrialists and the new BEE codes coming into effect tomorrow will ensure transformation. Its only a matter of time. The tables are turning - READ MORE

Disclaimer: All letters and comments published in MyFin24 have been independently written by members of the Fin24 community. The views are therefore their own and do not necessarily represent those of Fin24.

* Something finance related on your mind? Send it to us and you could get published.

We live in a world where facts and fiction get blurred
Who we choose to trust can have a profound impact on our lives. Join thousands of devoted South Africans who look to News24 to bring them news they can trust every day. As we celebrate 25 years, become a News24 subscriber as we strive to keep you informed, inspired and empowered.
Join News24 today
heading
description
username
Show Comments ()
Rand - Dollar
19.00
-0.5%
Rand - Pound
23.95
-0.3%
Rand - Euro
20.51
-0.2%
Rand - Aus dollar
12.34
+0.1%
Rand - Yen
0.13
-0.5%
Platinum
895.30
-0.2%
Palladium
991.47
-1.0%
Gold
2,196.11
+0.1%
Silver
24.46
-0.8%
Brent Crude
86.09
-0.2%
Top 40
67,818
+0.2%
All Share
74,028
+0.2%
Resource 10
56,225
+1.0%
Industrial 25
103,464
+0.2%
Financial 15
16,455
-0.4%
All JSE data delayed by at least 15 minutes Iress logo
Company Snapshot
Editorial feedback and complaints

Contact the public editor with feedback for our journalists, complaints, queries or suggestions about articles on News24.

LEARN MORE
Government tenders

Find public sector tender opportunities in South Africa here.

Government tenders
This portal provides access to information on all tenders made by all public sector organisations in all spheres of government.
Browse tenders