Eskom: Electricity and Technopolitics in South Africa

Africa’s leading producer of electricity, Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd, owned by the South African state, was shaken in 2008, when it was obliged to introduce ‘load shedding’, or rolling blackouts, and again in late 2014. Since then, grid dysfunctions, scheduled blackouts and blackout warnings have occurred frequently. Trying to understand how and why this pillar 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.