As South Africa’s Lights Go Out, Finance Minister Starts Selling Eskom To The Market

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In a week of unprecedented power cuts, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana has agreed to pay off about $14bn of the debts owed by Eskom, South Africa’s ailing state electricity company – but at an ideological price.


Reading the 2023 to 2024 budget to parliament in Cape Town on 22 February, Godongwana said the Treasury’s help to pay off Eskom’s debts was contingent on it bringing in private companies to operate its generating plants and power transmission networks.

Earlier, the Treasury had warned that Eskom “imposes an enormous drain on the economy”. The “prolonged debilitating power failures” caused by Eskom were among the key factors prompting it to cut its GDP growth forecast for this year to 0.9% from 1.4% last year, according to the Treasury statement.



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