Editorial…..

What war room?….

For those who have been associated with a war, they will know that a war room is a pretty busy place. However, one gets the impression that the South African war room, mandated to sort out Eskom and energy planning, has no red telephone and little understanding of working overtime in a time of crisis.

Spokesperson, Mac Maharaj or his  replacement, has certainly issued no statements headed with such a title, the President being busy visiting Egypt, Algeria and Angola with the deputy president calling in on the Kingdom of Lesotho.  President Mugabe has come and gone, more presidential visits are planned…… and the World Bank report on South Africa has been published.

Teetering on the edge

Meanwhile, the Eskom issue is still boiling over, the question of the fourth round of IPP tenders and more to come has been announced by the minister of energy but little evidence exists that a war room exists, let alone a high powered advisory council to advise the war room.  Parliament was, of course, on Easter recess which added to the uncanny political silence on urgent matters, particularly the energy issue, although the story at Medupi with a return to work and the appointment of a new CEO at Eskom seems  calming.

At last public servants are re-appearing from extended Easter holidays but the so-called war room gives the impression of having bunkered down. Hopefully the report in the coming weeks on Eskom, as South Africa tackles some of the other serious matters facing the country, will not only show with what went wrong but what the war room intends to do about it.

Perhaps a picture of the war room sitting and debating might actually help us believe there is one.