Gordhan’s grand plan to save Eskom needs your help

Minister of Public Enterprises Pravin Gordhan’s Eskom rescue plan excludes slashing its bloated workforce, but includes a plea to debtors to pay what they owe.

But, says an expert, Gordhan’s capitulating to the unions and vague statements about the R450 billion total debt (R25 billion by municipalities and R18 billion by Soweto alone) are nothing new – but at least there’s a plan even if it’s 10 years too late.

Energy expert Ted Blom told The Citizen the plan wasn’t worth the paper it was written on, with no milestones and no deadlines.

“I think Gordhan disrespected the public by having nothing to say. Everything he said today has already been said in the last 18 months. He hasn’t addressed the debt and he hasn’t addressed the unions,” Blom said.

“President Cyril Ramaphosa said last year there won’t be retrenchments, so I don’t know how Gordhan wants to fix Eskom without cutting the numbers.”

Gordhan said Finance Minister Tito Mboweni would deal with Eskom’s debt in the medium-term budget policy statement (MTBPS) today.

“Eskom will not retrench but sell off properties that are noncore,” Gordhan said.

In trimming the fat from its 48,000-strong workforce, experts earlier suggested that Eskom would have to reduce a 16,000 headcount – equating R10.4 billion per year – if it has to get out its current financial quagmire.

“Eskom needs an injection from pension funds, a strategic equity partner, competition and unbundling,” said Gordhan.

Ruling out talk of Eskom’s privatisation as being “part of fake news” and condemning the culture of non-payment of services as being unacceptable, Gordhan promised a change in the future of electricity supply in SA.

Setting out bold, actionable steps to mitigate the electricity supply risks and to put Eskom and the industry on a new path, Gordhan’s “special paper” was hailed by independent energy expert Chris Yelland as “a step in the right direction”.

Yelland said Eskom needed “more public participation”.

“The paper is a very broad document, which outlines where we are and where we need to go. These are complex matters that require government to talk to all stakeholders, including labour.

“If we had started with this plan 10 years ago, today we would not be where we are. In 1998, we had a white paper on energy which was never implemented because of lack of a political will.”

– brians@citizen.co.za

• Additional reporting by Amanda Watson

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.