When the full history of the ANC in government is written one day, one of its biggest governance failures will be Eskom and its failure to continue providing uninterrupted electricity to the people of South Africa and its economy.

It is a continuing failure of governance that shows up many of the worst aspects of the nationwide movement that did so much to bring freedom to this country. Now, unfortunately, there is more evidence that the politics of the issue matters more to some in the party than actually serving people by, say, working hard on fixing the electricity crisis as quickly as possible.

This has been demonstrated in recent days by the way the ANC responded to the situation involving the Eskom board member Busisiwe Mavuso and her interaction with Parliament.

Last week, our people and the economy suffered through Stage Four load shedding, with blackouts happening at least twice a day for most people. In many places, so bad is the infrastructure that it simply does not come back. In Eldorado Park, this led to bitter protests after they were left without electricity for more than a week.

Despite this grim reality, there was no loud public comment...