Eskom: Leave racism out of it, says Mantashe

Well done, Mantashe, on this one!

this go back to the issue was the eskom executive body/board being run in a racist manner? if not let our democracy takes its rightful position for the sake of tax payers and individual South-Africans.....................

I agree with Mantashe but he is preaching to the converted. He should be telling that to Malema and the Black Management Forum. They are the ones that brought race into it. If others are now commenting it's because of the original statements from them.

'The National Union of Mineworkers on Tuesday defended Godsell against claims he was a racist. Godsell was approached by the ANC government.'

'"And others have said Bobby Godsell is a racist ...' - *cough*BMFandANCYLandZachChauke*cough*

Zach Chauke, are you reading this? Ignorant racist.

Well spoken Mr Mantashe but it is the BMF and your big mouth Malema that started the race issue - you need to sort them out.
Mr Godsell has shown himself way superior in this matter through his integrity, honesty and selflessness - it so happens that he is white and the others are not, and I am proud of him; my side, which I hope includes many non-whites, has not been let down by him. He did the right thing but the country will pay a price. Compared to him Maroga is quite infantile.

"the boy who cried wolf"! This is what is taking place in SA at the moment, everything is thrown at the doorstep of racism. If a white police officer stops a black driver, then he is racist. When a black officer stops a white driver , then he is racist. I think we as South Africans have forgotten to accept criticism on merit. If I am wrong then tell me about it, I should not make it a race spectacle. The the capacity of Malema thinkers[both Black & White], lets get out of this stupid fallback.If someone messes up, whether they be black or white, fire them!! REMEMBER: How can we move forward when we are constantly being dragged back my those simple minded people!

Guys let us come up with the solution whatever the ANCYL and BMF commented on....at this stage we are still on the issue of racism?

Nice one Gwede. umAfrica, so much for your racist chant... now, like the Nedbank, Caster, Nationalisation of mines and Jansen sagas, you'll have to backtrack to align yourself with your political party.

Wishy washy wishy washy... as i told you yesterday, think before you write your narrow minded crap.

Animal Farm-1209 is concerned about leadership of government and its parastatals, why a Minister wait until here is crisis and confusion before (s)he can act?

These things reflect badly on any proud Black person and that Blacks still experience problems in parastatals how much more in private sector.

Animal Farm-1209 is concerned about the negative impression generated by sagas like the one we saw or are still seeing at Eskom.

Why was it difficult for Minister Barbara Hogan to just drop everything and be there at those Eskom board-rooms to get things under control?

Animal farm-1209, in-fact all rationale citizens have always known that at Eskom those guys Mr. Maroga included were not doing their best to run Eskom properly.

First it was that incompetent Mr. Alec Erwin and now Minister Hogan is doing her own thing, when is this incompetency ever gonna come to an end?

Animal Farm-1209 is for Excellency Period!!

It would be a good thing if Mr. Maroga follows Mr. Godsell. Bring in someone who has financial, technical and operational experience and knowledge. Indeed racism must be removed from this debate and we should all consecrate on coming up with ways to happy Eskom get out of the mess it is in.
Mr. Maroga is not 100% to blame, because the Eskom problem started in the late 80s, if someone has access to the financial statement dating back to the 80s, one would note that, even then, the fixed assets of the company need a major improvement and new capital investment was required.
The main reason why the fixed assets of Eskom are so impaired is because someone who used to be in top management was buying cheap coal which resulted in the damage of the company’s infrastructure. Hence I feel mining company who played part in this must be brought to book.
Again Mr. Maroga you are not 100% to blame for this, but please be accountable to South African and do the right thing and vacate you office.
As member of the BMF, I feel ashamed that the leads of this organization used the race card to protect Mr. Maroga .

Godsell is a liar finish and klaar he did a good thing to resign. Moroga and the rest of the board must follow.

south africa has become a playground for political clowns. it is true that we come from a disturbing history which was characterised by racism. it is equally true that we now need to move forward and serve those who put us in power through votes. it is unfortunate that people are lazing around and hide behind racism.

We have always said, ANC is not a racist organizations, well done comrades

Whatever abt whether Godsell is a rascist or not!!!..one questions his motives for the annoucement and allowing himself to flaunt cooperative governance principles..surely if a CEO resigns, this is discussed and presented at a board meeting and the shareholder is informed before such a pronouncement. Less than a month ago, the CEO was give a 27% salary hike, 2 weeks later annual results were presented to parliament..so when did the tension starts etc? Besides, Maroga's contract expires end March 2010. So who is CEO in waiting?

Finally, somebody comes to condemn it. I have been watching closely, racism tendencies are taking it's tall now with our black fellows taking a centre stage. looks like reverse racism, something really needs to be done about it. You will also notice that here on the blog.
Let's rather face issues than playing a race card where ther's a crisis causes it just blows things out of proportion.

BMF,does such a thing exist? Where are these Black Managers managing?

What is their track records in management?


WTF,these are dunces with a low self esteem and very very little knowledge about management.One can also judge them by their support for all the AA black managers who have sunk such national companies like ESKOM, SABC, SAA,TRANSNET.





Black Management Forum is a forum of silly inferior little black people who can't compete on a level field and are waiting to be DEPLOYED.

Louise, who are the "converted"? the very same people who themselves have fueled the "racist debate" on this site, calling Jacob Maroga an incompetent cadre who is responsible for all the mess at Eskom. None of it backed by any factual information. Just to show that there are no saints in these senseless debates about race, Jacob Maroga is no "cadre deployment candidate". He is a highly qualified engineer who has been at Eskom for many, many years and climbed up the ladder like everyone else when playing on a levelled field. However, that does not necessarily make him a brilliant leader or an efficient manager,I personnaly do not know whether he is or not. But what is also puzzling is how all of you have suddenly forgotten when all this series of making wrong decisions at Eskom actually started. Experts have said over and over again that Eskom should have started building more power stations about 25 years ago. Well we are all not worried as to why this advice was not heeded by the Nats but fast forward to 10 years ago under the leadership of Thulani Gcabashe as CEO at Eskom and Alec Erwin as Public Enterprise Minister, this call was again not heeded. So if we were to racialise everything as it seems to be the only thing that makes sense these days, then both Black and White governments have equally contributed to the operational crises at Eskom. And so does the racial theme goes, the issue now is a governace & management now but again it has been turned into a stupid racial issue by both black and white South Africans. If Jacob Maroga is incompetent Bobby Goldsell should not have motivated for a bonus and a raise, that would have sent a strong indication to everyone that the board is not happy with Maroga's performance and were acting on it as they are suppossed to. Instead he is given a raise & a bonus, then all the drama that unfolded and the defeaning silence that has caused useless debates based on speculation and not facts. The public should be demanding clear answers from the Minister, Eskom board and the former/current CEO once and for all because this is the fiasco that is bad for the so-called investors and not the departing of one or two individuals, regradless of the colour of thier skins.

Mantashe has made good emphasis by alluding that we need to address the generic problems Eskom is faced with, in stead we are beginning to utter the issue of race as it is now.

The direction in which we are heading at seem to be the one that does not have the light on the end of the tunnel, and to me the issue is about the power price hick.

Where are Z.Chauke, PSA, Uhuru, Moxter and UmAfrica today? On collective holiday all gathered under the same rock? Pffffffffff!!

As usual a small governmental intervention can make everything fall apart, they should stick to there duties as publiic servants and stop trying to play 'king of the hill'.

I think race should be left out of this equation. I read that Mr. Mantashe failed an evaluation assessment by the Eskom Board. His abilities must be judged on competence, and to repeat myself, he failed the Board of Directors evaluation and was found not to be competent in his position as CEO. Many foreign investors are following this saga, and they will not invest in South Africa, especially if it is true that a person that is not competent, that is accused of mismanaging Eskom, is going to keep on managing the all important life line of any business, namely electricity. Foreign investors don't have to invest in South Africa, they can invest in Brazil, Australia and many other countries with a stronger comparative advantage than South Africa. I think the government owes it to the future of this country to resolve this saga in the interest of a brighter future. I wish that we will learn that people should only be judged and appointed by their competence, and not by the colour of their skin. South Africa needs its best and brightest in managerial positions and in all walks of life, because South Africa competes against the best in the world. If South Africa looses foreign investment or wastes it natural resources, it is all South Africans that suffer. Fewer jobs, more poverty, more hardship and that will result in more frustration and a higher crime rate. A negative spiral. The solution is to find the most competent man or woman for the job, and lets get working on it to create a better future.

Fred S. I think I know who PSA is. A couple of days ago, I posted a "riddle", addressed to him, playing arround with words relating to his occupation. In a follow up post I challenge him to repond. Never heard from him again. I presume he will return under another pseudonym.

If I am right, he was just stirring and drawing reaction from people. Maybe I am wrong and he is on holiday !!!

geez Gweeds, thats bloody rich. Why don't you remove yourself from JZ's ass so that you can see that it is already way past that... Doidge is correct megamouth Malema, the ANC spokes person has alrady sorted this..

Why "leave racism out of it", Gwede? Want us all to play along with your regime's pretence to spare you and your cadres and comrades embarrassment? Why would we want to do that?

Jon Low, you just dissapointed that some white folks applaude Gwede's statement, not evry white person is raised like you, with rascism religion you know, get over yourself already! bigot

@ louise doidge: You keep on dragging Malema and the BMF into the picture to confuse yourself more and others who think like you.

BMF and Malema's statemens should be dismissed with a contempt they deserve because they are not govt policy.

What worries the moon when the dog barks?