11 Dec 2020
ABB South Africa has reached an agreement with Eskom and the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) to repay the power utility R1.56 billion.
This is related to overpayments made by Eskom to the contractor for work done at Kusile power station.
The SIU has said this is the largest recovery it has made since it started reviewing contracts at the power utility.
Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan has said there are tens of billions more to be recovered from irregular contracts with state-owned enterprises.
11 Dec 2020
Gordhan says that the issues with the tender system do not solely lie with Eskom. It is also related to the private companies seeking to exploit weaknesses in the tender process or manipulate the system.
South Africa: Eskom s Debt Is a Double-Edged Sword allafrica.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from allafrica.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan remains silent about details of the government’s intentions to recapitalise Eskom after signing a social compact on behalf of government with unions and business to save Eskom from collapse. Could the government finally be on the way to getting its hands on SA’s retirement savings to rescue the ailing utility?
One of the government’s biggest challenges and one seemingly impossible to fix is Eskom’s unprecedented R480-billion debt. The debt has not only been a drag on consumers who have had to endure inflation-plus tariff increases for electricity for more than a decade, but is exacerbating the instability of Eskom’s old generation fleet. With poor maintenance and over-reliance on open-cycle gas turbines, which operate on (expensive) diesel, Eskom’s power plants are running at full capacity on average only eight months of the year.