Recent power-cut-prone wage negotiations at Eskom were akin to watching the deckchairs being moved on the Titanic before the liner hit an iceberg, which resulted in a fatal disaster. It is now broadly accepted that the business is not sustainable in its current form. Yet the negotiations had all the hallmarks of ‘business as usual’. Moves for even higher tariffs are similarly unsustainable, as the death-spiral risks begin to materialise. In the end, sadly, it’s going to be a case of adapt or die.