Research Catalog

Title

Eskom : electricity and technopolitics in South Africa / Sylvy Jaglin and Alain Dubresson.

Author

Jaglin, Sylvy

Publication

• Cape Town : UCT Press, 2016.
• ©2016

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

Dubresson, Alain

Description

ix, 186 pages : illustrations, map; 23 cm

Summary

Africa's leading producer of electricity, Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd, is also a vertically integrated monopoly, owned by the South African state. This national champion was shaken in 2008, when it was obliged to introduce 'load shedding', or rolling blackouts, and again in late 2014. Since then, there has been an accumulation of grid dysfunctions, scheduled blackouts and blackout warnings. Trying to understand how and why one of the iconic pillars of South African state capitalism is now in distress, the authors of this book argue that the so-called electricity crisis is in fact a public monopoly crisis. Moving beyond technical aspects, they explore the relationship between state power and Eskom before, during and after apartheid. From this perspective, they suggest that the current technical and financial troubles of this public utility are illustrative of the weakening of its technopolitical regime, of how national institutions have governed Eskom's technological development, and of the pursuit of political goals in the production of electrical power. Without a clear industrial strategy during the 2000s, Eskom became a powerful tool of Broad-Black Economic Empowerment as well as a neopatrimonial system which generates profits captured by the ruling party. As a result, crisis in Eskom shakes the whole political edifice. Inefficient and its finances increasingly under scrutiny, this state-owned enterprise's existence as a monopolistic public utility is regularly a subject of debate. The authors propose that the solutions for dealing with the crisis all point in the direction of de-integrating this public monopoly and allowing its current technopolitical regime to enter a planned or natural decline.

Uniform Title

Eskom : électricité et pouvoir en Afrique du Sud. English

Alternative Title

Eskom : électricité et pouvoir en Afrique du Sud.

Subject

• Eskom (Firm)
• Electricity
• Electric utilities > South Africa
• Electric power distribution > South Africa
• Electric power production > South Africa
• Electric power
• electricity
• Electric power
• Electric power distribution
• Electric power production
• Electric utilities
• Electricity
• South Africa

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (pages 161-178) and index.

Language (note)

• Translation of: Eskom : électricité et pouvoir en Afrique du Sud

Contents

List of figures and tables -- About the authors -- Abbreviations -- Eskom: a technopolitical object -- From Escom to Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd: metamorphoses of a public monopoly. Escom: a model of South African racial state capitalism ; From Escom to Eskom ; Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd: neoliberalism and deinstitutionalisation -- The reform of the electricity sector: Eskom in the storm. A lost decade of policy shifts ; A new and yet unstable institutional framework -- From electricity for all to electricity crisis: the failure of Eskom. A major player in electrification ; The failure ofEskom's technical system -- Restoring generating capacity: the technical and financial challenges. A coal-dependent technical system ; 'Eskom in distress': the financial squeeze -- Eskom and Africa: from continental involvement to a narrowing focus on the SADC. Background: the need for African engagement ; The trials and tribulations of African expansion ; The Southern African Power Pool: the big priority of the 21st century -- Neopatrimonialism and state capitalism: Eskom confronts the 'tyranny of realism'. Black (Coal) Economic Empowerment: Eskom in difficulty ; Eskom in the future energy mix: the road to marginalisation? ; Eskom in the South African politico-economic complex -- Is Eskom's technopolitical regime on its way out? -- Endnotes -- References -- Index.

ISBN

• 9781775822158
• 177582215X
• 9781485115687 (canceled/invalid)
• 148511568X (canceled/invalid)

LCCN

99976627879

OCLC

• ocn964223311
• 964223311
• SCSB-8894514

Owning Institutions

Princeton University Library