Government working to give Eskom a 'healthy balance sheet' — Godongwana

The government will soon announce steps to “clear” Eskom's balance sheet to stabilise the electricity grid. 

“We want to resolve the Eskom issues as soon as possible, and part of that is to make sure they have a healthy balance sheet so they should do what they do best,” finance minister Enoch Godongwana said on Thursday.

“[Eskom] should prioritise sorting what they have, not what they do not have, and make sure of the 48,000MW [connected to the grid] at least 32,000MW is available,” he told a pre-World Economic Forum (WEF) breakfast in Johannesburg.

“That is why we have got to clear the balance sheet and we will make the appropriate announcement during the budget speech in February.” 

Eskom, which is grappling with a debt of R396bn, is struggling to keep the lights on and implemented stage 6 load-shedding on Wednesday after the breakdown of 11 generating units placed capacity under strain.

Godongwana said South Africa is open for business and a delegation, including CEOs set to attend the WEF in Davos later this month, will promote the country’s resilience despite headwinds, including load-shedding, rail constraints and crime. Policies had to be implemented to realise the country’s potential.

“You can have the best policies on paper, but if you cannot provide electricity it is useless. If you can’t deal with crime your policy cannot work. You shoot a German tourist in [near] Kruger National Park, it is front page news in the EU, and 14-million of them travel to Russia and they will not go to Russia but they will not choose us as an alternative destination.”

International relations and co-operation minister Naledi Pandor agreed government is working to address the power challenges.

“We have a problem of energy supply,, but we are not sitting on our laurels observing the problem. We are taking measures to address it and this is what we will convey. We should not appear defensive, there are a number of steps we are taking which are important, she said, referring to the introduction of solar energy, fuel cells and diversifying the Eskom structure.

Godongwana said he hopes the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) will not greylist South Africa after measures to improve the financial system.

“I am hopeful the work we have done and the report we submitted will be convincing. I am saying, I am hoping. We hope the amount of work we have done will result in a positive effect.”

South Africa faces a possible greylisting after the FATF, the global organisation focused on protecting financial systems, identified weaknesses in the country’s financial systems and recommended it beef up law enforcement and judicial capacity, among other things.

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