JOHANNESBURG - The government's R254-billion lifeline to Eskom is a move in the right direction, but now it's Eskom's turn to finally dig itself out of crisis.
Business Unity South Africa says Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana's budget speech statement is a solid attempt at stabilising the country's electricity supply and turning the economy around.
Busa CEO Busi Mavuso says while the move was expected and even inevitable, government must now prove that it's not just handing over another blank cheque.
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Mavuso said, "I think we always knew that addressing the energy crisis was always going to be central to this budget and Eskom's debt relief of R254-billion is definitely larger than expected."
"Unfortunately, it actually means that the debt levels of the country are going to go up, but I think let's appreciate and let's accept that the Eskom, that transfer was always going to happen and it is a necessary step to help address the crippling effects of load-shedding."
"So the conditionality that has actually been put to it I think is quite something that the markets were actually watching closely and that they were expecting. Now the trick is going to be are we going to put interventions in place to ensure that these conditionalities are met, you know."
"What guard rails is government going to put in place and ensure that Eskom can actually ensure that they use the money to prioritise capital expenditure and transmission and distribution as well as focus on the maintenance of generation fleet and improve electricity availability."
"Because it is not getting to a stage Devan where it is underwhelming when the government says it is going to do anything because we talk about all these grand plans. We announce all these you know brilliant initiatives but then we don't follow through in terms of monitoring and evaluation but I think overall I think it's a highly positive move towards improving the much-needed energy security and addressing the inadequate generation capacity."