Too early to say whether PIC will eventually bail out Eskom: Mabuza

Deputy President David Mabuza says it is still too early to say whether the Public Investment Corporation will eventually bail out Eskom.

The idea of the PIC bailing out the embattled power utility was first mooted by Cosatu early this year, which suggested that the PIC should take almost half of Eskom’s R450 billion debt.

Answering his final oral questions for the year in parliament, on Thursday, Mabuza says negotiations over this issue are still on-going.  He says progress is being made by the Political Task Team that was set-up to deal with a myriad of crises that are facing Eskom.

Deputy President David Mabuza answers questions in parliament:
[embedded content]

Mabuza says to this end, at least R4 billion has been recovered from state departments and municipalities that are owing Eskom.

The Deputy President told lawmakers that Eskom’s financial woes are been compounded by state departments, municipalities and individuals who are not paying their electricity bills.

The company is still being owed R20,5 billion.

Mabuza says the government and Eskom are currently looking at other different options aimed at dealing with the debilitating Eskom debt.

He says from their perspective, it has become clear that the power utility can manage to sustain itself if it can successfully deal with its debt.

However, members of parliament blamed years of corruption, incompetence and cadre deployment as the main source of Eskom’s crisis.