In Think Again, organisational psychologist Adam Grant explores bias in our public discourse and offers a paean to intellectual humility.
Grant posits that there are a number of biases, including “I’m not biased”. That’s when we believe we’re more objective than others and it particularly traps intelligent people.
“These biases don’t just prevent us from applying our intelligence, but can actually contort our intelligence into a weapon against the truth,” he writes.
Truth is, attempts at salvaging ailing but crucial cogs of our struggling economy, led by Eskom and Transnet, have come across as too binary, timid and perfunctory, considering the complex challenges weighing down the nation’s critical infrastructure.
Eskom is the de facto ground zero in the battle to salvage our beleaguered citadels of corruption from the vagaries of state capture.
And when fundamental moral issues are at stake, as they inescapably are at the power utility, it is to be expected that beneficiaries of state capture, their apologists and those who failed to discharge their constitutional duties at critical epochs will see the world through a vacuous moral prism.
Their vapid and self-serving criticisms seek to render our body politic even messier.
There are inconvenient truths we must confront as we vanquish our horseman of energy security. And it’s precisely because the stakes are high that we should counter the venal and guilt-ridden by preferring humility over sanctimony, performance over populism, and impact over expediency.
Their race-baiting and biases belie that between 2000 and outgoing CEO André de Ruyter’s arrival in 2020, Eskom had 11 black CEOs who were responsible for the state-capture golden years.
An extract from a 2019 report titled Roadmap for Eskom in a Reformed Electricity Supply Industry by the department of public enterprises reads: “This situation [state capture] has directly contributed to Eskom’s inability to sustainably provide electricity supply ... and impacted disastrously on the potential for economic growth.”
Former Eskom general manager for generation Matshela Koko is axiomatic of what goes wrong when smart people become too selfish, treacherous, arrogant and “righteous”.
Koko, leading cast member of former Eskom executives facing comeuppance, thinks it would help their cause if they stoked the fires of public discontent by riding on the crest of legitimate public expectations, while conjuring chimeras of “anti-black” fallacies in our political economy.
Before De Ruyter could adjust the reclining chair behind his desk, never mind begin stabilising the system’s dispatchable energy generation essential to lessening recurring power outages and staving off the risk of triggering economic calamity, Trojan horses distracted him with spurious accusations of racism. Needless to say, they failed. But persist, they would.
De Ruyter was a heartbeat from “failure” the moment he joined Eskom.
He became a thorn in the side of powerful politicians and BEE askaris with vested interests at the power utility, and drew the constant ire of energy minister Gwede Mantashe who, inexplicably, opposes renewable energy.
Denying De Ruyter necessary resources to procure the diesel needed to mitigate incessant power outages owing largely to an ageing fleet while he battled system saboteurs, arguably contributed to South Africa recording the harshest blackouts ever.
And the crooks will be happy to see his back, nonetheless!
But the cracking sound of the National Prosecuting Authority’s (NPA) whip and the creaking sound of the Hawks’ boots will nevertheless remain a cause of trembling for the corrupt and hope for an exasperated society.
In a recent television interview, former president Thabo Mbeki attributed Eskom’s woes to the deleterious procurement model used for its never-ending build programme.
The picture that emerged from Mbeki’s interview was that of a politician who claims to hold bedrock, moral principles, but ironically strays from these in support of a partisan agenda that entrenches fealty to the political survival of the ANC.
Nowhere is this dynamic and attempt at social engineering more pronounced than in the statesman’s musings on the energy insecurity with which he bequeathed us.
Mbeki displays the type of audacity, intellectual arrogance and self-righteousness often associated with Machiavellians
The excessive admiration for Mbeki’s “own brilliance”, preening at the putative halcyon years of his presidency, and inordinate scorn for the “jerks” on the other side of the intellectual equation is troubling.
The former president’s apparent biases contort his intelligence into a weapon against the truth about his and the ANC’s moral vacuity and culpability in South Africa's energy crisis.
Lest we forgot, Mbeki ill-advisedly engaged in a years-long attempt to cling to power at Polokwane when he should have focused on the execution of the Medupi and Kusile projects (both launched in 2007) whose blueprint he now has the temerity to assail.
Whether by design or coincidence, Mbeki, architect of South Africa’s corruption-tainted multibillion-rand arms deal, displays the type of audacity, intellectual arrogance and self-righteousness often associated with Machiavellians. The dishonest stench of his contradictions and lack of intellectual humility are unseemly.
Mbeki and President Cyril Ramaphosa are far from innocent bystanders in the corruption behind the energy crisis. At the least, they are material witnesses to the plunder by Chancellor House, which set the tone for the bilking of Eskom by rapacious Cadreshians and contractors.
With a fresh ANC mandate and a favourable leadership coterie, Ramaphosa has an opportunity to effect key cabinet changes, boldly discharge his constitutional duties and ameliorate ANC misgovernance.
He must help vanquish criminal networks at Eskom and crack the whip at delinquent public institutions that owe it billions.
Fixing the power utility's generation problems without fixing revenue collection would be antithetical to efforts to salvage Eskom and risk paving the way to a failed state.
Supply-chain systems’ integrity and ethical entrepreneurship are critical yet fragile elements of Eskom’s soft underbelly that require prioritising.
Perhaps the most daunting task is to harmonise the power utility’s relationship with trade unions, particularly those in the clutches of belligerent leaders who turn a blind eye to some members’ criminality and act as cheerleaders for disgraced former executives.
Ramaphosa and the Eskom board are in a race against time.
The latter must think hard regarding the qualities it seeks in De Ruyter’s replacement. A perfect candidate’s skills must include the ability to manage without an applause meter and a skin thicker than that infamous “rubber thingy” that’s prone to breaking at Eskom power plants.
Whatever his or her hue, the next CEO’s success will depend on unwavering board support and a shrinking pool of committed managers, particularly the folks one typically finds many floors below the executive suite — intrepid engineers, professionals and staff who toil amid dwindling morale.
The remainder of Ramaphosa’s presidency must be a time of high passion, moral certainty, drawing lines in the sand and setting critical paths for resolving the energy crisis.
It remains to be seen, though, if and how the president, Eskom board and incoming CEO will measure up in the looming years of even greater testing.
As for De Ruyter, he has helped stymie criminal networks and state capture at Eskom, including the vacuous posse of BEE askaris once in full bloom. He deserves a paean for his humility, diligence, patriotism and thankless service to this nation.
Au revoir, André!
• Khaas is a political commentator and chair of Public Interest SA (NPC)
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