PENSIONERS’ MONEY
Loan pulled Eskom from brink of default, says PIC
Eskom projected a R10bn negative cash flow for the first week of February and was saved from the brink of defaulting on its debt only by the one-month R5bn bridging facility provided by the Public Investment Corporation (PIC), PIC CEO Dan Matjila has revealed. The disclosure is made in a letter sent by Matjila to the chairman of Parliament’s standing committee on finance, Yunus Carrim. He outlined the rationale for the loan, which he said was needed to tide Eskom over until it obtained loans of R20bn from a consortium of local banks. This could not happen immediately as processes and conditions precedent had to be finalised. Without the R5bn, Eskom’s going-concern status would have been jeopardised, Matjila told Carrim. A default would have put the PIC’s R95bn government-guaranteed exposure to Eskom at risk. The Public Servants Association and South African Federation of Trade Unions have objected to the loan. Eskom spokesman Khulu Phasiwe conceded that cash flow was a "big issue" b...
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