South Africa’s state-owned power utility said it had to ask for 36% increase in prices because of the government’s inability to rein in delinquent municipalities and errors made by the regulator in adjudicating earlier applications to boost tariffs.

While there are many examples to show that hypocrisy comes with the territory for all of our politicians, they are often at their most prolific when discussing the issues of competence and qualifications.

South African utility Eskom has asked the energy regulator to approve a 36% power tariff hike from April next year because of a shortfall caused by previous regulatory decisions going against it, it said on Monday.

A proposed 36.1% electricity price hike in South Africa is unaffordable and out of line with the country’s development goals of making reliable electricity more available.