An ugly race row has left South Africa’s national power company leaderless and is threatening to turn the lights out in the country only nine months before it is due to host the World Cup.
Bobby Godsell, the chairman of Eskom, which generates 95 per cent of electricity in sub-Saharan Africa’s biggest economy, resigned this week after being accused of trying to force out his black chief executive.
The power struggle comes as experts warn that South Africa faces another season of blackouts that have prompted national emergencies in the past two years. It also highlights the crisis of leadership in Jacob Zuma’s new government, which is being accused of appeasing “racial populists” as it seeks to contain strongly divergent voices within the ruling ANC party.
