Memo to Eskom: Telkom already lost this fight
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South Africa's Eskom is resisting the transfer of its transmission grid to an independent operator, and the author draws a direct parallel to Telkom's decade-long fight to retain control of its last-mile copper network. Telkom's refusal to separate wholesale and retail operations led to competition abuse fines totalling R649 million, stalled broadband development, and ultimately forced the spin-off of Openserve anyway — after the damage was done. The electricity situation is argued to be more dangerous because, unlike telecoms, no competitor can build a rival transmission grid. Independent power producers blocked from grid access simply cannot connect, throttling renewables investment. The author notes that grid separation is already written into law via the Electricity Regulation Amendment Act and publicly backed by President Ramaphosa, and urges Eskom's board to stop relitigating settled policy and focus on negotiating a transfer that protects lenders, workers, and the grid itself.
