Mabuza wants to make Eskom ‘profitable, transparent, agile’

“The ultimate goal is to make Eskom a profitable, transparent, agile and a top-forming organisation which is financially independent,” Eskom chairperson Jabu Mabuza said at the struggling utility’s interim results presentation.

How this will be achieved is unclear. At the same briefing, Mabuza said that Eskom is expecting a loss of R20 billion this year.

Eskom CFO Caleb Cassim also spoke at the briefing, justifying the latest government bailouts the utility has received.

“We are unable to service debt,” he said, adding that this “highlights why it was necessary for government to support us.”

Or, as Mabuza put it: “We faced the reality that the organisation needs to borrow to service debt. Moody’s has recently downgraded our debt”.

Eskom’s total generation cost is up 18% to R37 billion, he added.

The state-owned power producer’s total debt sits at roughly R450 billion.

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It also struggles with debt collection, and is owed R25 billion by SA’s municipalities alone.

He called on South Africans to give De Ruyter “the space and time” to turn Eskom around.

“The decision to appoint Andre de Ruyter was a thorough process. The so-called surprise of the appointment is because there was no leak of the list. De Ruyter is the most suitable, able, available South African to take on this job.”