Looted money from SOEs being recovered in court

Almost R3bn looted during state capture has been recovered by Eskom to date, President Cyril Ramaphosa said at Nasrec, Johannesburg, on Friday. 

Delivering the political report at the ANC's 55th national elective conference, Ramaphosa  said SOEs were claiming a further R5bn in various court processes.

“An important part of the work to reverse the effects of state capture is the recovery of funds that were paid illegally or improperly to a number of companies.” he said.

The government had taken immediate steps to rebuild Eskom and other state-owned entities (SOEs), he said.

“The effects of load-shedding are felt every day by households, businesses, schools, hospitals and government offices... We have undertaken several far-reaching measures to completely transform the country's energy sector,” said Ramaphosa. 

He also said the plan to restructure Eskom was at an “advanced stage”.

“The process to restructure Eskom into three separate state-owned entities responsible for generation, transmission, and distribution is at an advanced stage, creating the conditions for greater financial and operational efficiency,” he said.

“The insecurity of electricity supply continues to be one of the greatest impediments to economic recovery. Poor policy decisions in the past, together with inadequate maintenance, mismanagement and widespread corruption, have left our electricity system in a critical state.” 

On Friday, Eskom implemented stage 6 load-shedding ''until further notice’’ amid the country's constant power woes.

Ramaphosa also said several SOEs were still plagued by significant debt, underinvestment in infrastructure and a shortage of skills, despite the establishment of a presidential state-owned enterprises council to help stabilise state parastatals. 

“Steps were taken after the 54th national conference, to appoint new leadership with requisite skills and experience at strategic SOEs like Eskom, Transnet and Denel. The new boards and executive management acted quickly to stop corruption and put in place turnaround plans. The functioning and operational performance of SOEs remains a significant challenge,” said Ramaphosa. 

He said investment into the country's critical economic infrastructure will improve the performance and financial position of SOEs.