This is why Mbeki blames Eskom for loadshedding and what South Africans said

• Former president Thabo Mbeki blames the start of loadshedding on Eskom and slammed the state entity
• Mbeki accused Eskom of purposefully engineering rolling blackouts from within its structures in 2008
• South Africans called him out and questioned why he was mentioning this information before the national elections

Tebogo Mokwena, a Briefly News current affairs journalist in Johannesburg, South Africa, has covered policy changes, the State of the Nation Address, politician-related news and elections at Daily Sun and Vutivi Business News for over seven years.

Mbeki says Eskom engineered loadshedding purposefully. Images: Alet Pretorius/Gallo Images via Getty Images and Rodger Bosch/ AFP via Getty Images Source: Getty Images

JOHANNESBURG – Former president Thabo Mbeki pointed fingers at Eskom and accused the state-owned entity of manufacturing loadshedding.

Mbeki blames Eskom for loadshedding

According to @eNCA, Mbeki said blackouts in 2008 were not the government’s fault. He said the loadshedding in 2008 was unnecessary and was deliberately engineered within Eskom. He added that the government had nothing to do with the power cuts. He mentioned that the Special Investigation Unit published a report called On the Investigation into the affairs of Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd.

Mbeki said the report said Eskom’s directors and management failed to warn Eskom employees that the SOC was facing a coal shortage. He believed the crisis at Eskom could have been avoided but accused the board of directors of not acting quickly in the face of a dangerously low coal supply.

Watch the video here:

Netizens slam Mbeki

South Africans turned the tables on Mbeki and criticised him.

D4X said:

“He ignored a warning from StatsSA in the early 2000s. Mbeki was told that in 10 years, there would be an electricity crisis. Due to, amongst other reasons, the rollout of RDP houses, which was increasing demand.”

Gonondo asked:

“Why is he telling us now? I just lost trust in President Mbeki.”

Cherry White said:

“In a 1998 presentation to the ANC government, Eskom warned it would run out of capacity in seven years. The ANC did not listen. What lies, Mr Mbeki.”

Grateful said:

“The ANC is playing all its cards for the elections.”

Niren said:

“Mbeki is no better than Zuma or Ramaphosa.”

Thabo Mbeki slams Jacob Zuma and MKP members

Briefly News reported that Mbeki slammed former president Jacob Zuma and MKP members in a similar article.

He accused them of trying to destabilise the South African Revenue Services during Zuma’s tenure as president.