ESKOM, power, politics and the (post) apartheid state

167pp., paperback, First SA Edition, Johannesburg, 2023

First published in 2023 in the USA.

“A fascinating and timely study of South Africa’s state corporations - in particular its national electricity provider Eskom - and their relationship to the (post)apartheid state. Drawing on meticulous historical research, Ballim powerfully revises existing accounts of state power in South Africa and speaks to urgent questions of energy politics and democratization in the present.” Antina von Schnitzler, author of Democracy's Infrastructure: Techno-politics and protest after apartheid

“The inevitable intertwining of power supply, politics and the market has been well explored. Yet in policy debates, one continues to hear calls for the separation of the three parts of the assemblage. Ballim takes up the issue in South Africa and captivatingly shows how calls for disentanglement obscure better insights.” Richard Rottenburg, University of the Witwatersrand

Faeeza Ballim is a Senior Lecturer and Head of the History Department at the University of Johannesburg. She is currently the co-editor of a five-volume series entitled Translating Technology in Africa.