Demands from various quarters that South Africa stop its electricity exports to neighbouring countries amounted to "economic xenophobia", Public Enterprises Minister Alec Erwin said on Wednesday.

"We treat our customers in neighbouring countries as customers; they actually don't have everything our South African customers have, but we've got to continue to treat them as customers," he told a media briefing at parliament.

It was an integrated system, with SA importing power from its neighbours — and would continue to do so in future — and selling power to them now.

"So for the life of me, I still cannot comprehend this logic that somehow we must punish these foreign customers, and that we're somehow criminal in exporting to them.

"For me it's unfathomable that we even contemplate that proposition, and we should stop doing it, because you can see sometimes the dangerous implications it has," he said.

It was a mindless approach.

"You have these absolutely unacceptable, disastrous and barbaric activities taking place [as in Alexandra], and here we are as senior informed leaders, and we also sort of convey some kind of economic xenophobia. Now we must stop it. It's nonsense," Erwin said.

Eskom's customers outside SA would be treated exactly like any other customer with the same rights, and this would remain so.

The amount SA exported was not large enough to be of major significance for its system in any event.

"But let me tell you, that there'll be a time when we import from our neighbours in amounts that will be very significant.

"Now, if I was in the Congo or Mozambique and some South African government, just when it had a crisis, chopped me off without any regard for the effect on me, I would make very certain that in future I'd do something similar to them.

"We've got to carry on treating people fairly," Erwin said.

Sapa