The Black Business Council has called for the resignation of Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter and other senior executives after Eskom announced another round of stage 4 load shedding on Monday.
In a statement, the council said that while it initially supported de Ruyter’s tenure, it is now calling for him and the entire Eskom board to step down due to their inability to stop the prolonged energy blackouts.
It also said de Ruyter achieved nothing at the power utility and had made things worse.
The council’s statement comes after Eskom announced that it would be moving to stage 4 load shedding until 05h00 on Saturday.
The Council's CEO Kganki Matabane said: “The BBC was overly optimistic when de Ruyter was appointed, as Eskom needed stability, but has since realised that two years later, the country has nothing to show but the highest number of blackouts in the history of our beloved South Africa".
He said the council was of the view that Eskom's leadership is overwhelmed, inept, and out of its depth.
“The country has been experiencing the blackouts since 2008, and 13 years later, there is no light at the end of the tunnel. The continuous excuse of blaming the state capture instead of solving the current problem, while it could have been valid, is disingenuous and tired.
“The inability to stabilise Eskom will only lead to the country being downgraded, resulting in the increase in the already record-breaking unemployment rate, further economic contraction, and scaring of international investors,” he said.
Since the beginning of the year, Eskom has been under fire for its inadequate energy capacity. The power company has been struggling for years to provide electricity, and it said the grid remains severely constrained.
In March, the power utility warned that, without additional capacity added to the grid, there was likely to be a 4 000MW to 6 000MW shortfall over the next five years as power stations reach their end of life. At the time, Eskom said load shedding was likely to be a feature in South Africa until the stability of the grid improves.
Meanwhile, Social media users took to Twitter to voice their unhappiness with de Ruyter's management of the parastatal, observing that load shedding had hit record-highs under his watch.
Users also reiterated the BBC's calls for his removal. They claimed, during Brian Molefe's tenure as Eskom's CEO he stopped load shedding.
BUSINESS REPORT ONLINE