The Eskom in the room
Godongwana hopes asset sales and fiscal intervention will save it, but analysts say this is not nearly enough
Exhibiting some impatience with Eskom, finance minister Enoch Godongwana wants to see turnaround plans, actions and the sale of assets for the utility to get out of its crisis. But this will not be easy, or perhaps even feasible, say commentators.The extent to which SA’s power crisis and Eskom’s R400bn mountain of debt are suppressing GDP and weighing on the fragile fiscus is a major concern for the National Treasury. In his budget speech, Godongwana said Eskom had been given R136bn to pay off its debt and a further R88bn until 2025/2026.The Treasury allocated R21.9bn to Eskom in the current year in equity support after providing R31.7bn in 2021/2022. It forecasts a R21bn and R22bn allocation in the next two years to facilitate Eskom’s restructuring, which will see it split its generation and transmission assets.By March 31 2021, Eskom had used R281.6bn of its R350bn government guarantee facility, with another R7bn committed. It has a special dispensation to access additional guaran...
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