Gordhan said the debtors were;

Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (Zesa) of Zimbabwe – R322m;

Zesco of Zambia – R221m; and

Electricidade de Mocambique (EDM) – R89m.

Eskom, which has a total debt burden of R450bn, has for years experienced difficulties in collecting money owed to it electricity it has already provided. It is owed about R25bn by South African municipalities, many of which are financial trouble.

Gordhan said none of the funds owed to Eskom by the power utilities of neighbouring countries were in dispute. “Eskom’s clients acknowledge their debt and attribute economic challenges as well as financial constraints as the cause of their delays in settling the outstanding debt,” Gordhan said.

The minister included a submission from Eskom in his written reply, which said Zimbabwe’s economic challenges meant it was unable to honour its debt obligations.

“Eskom and Zesa currently have a payment plan agreement for the settlement of the debt and Zesa is paying off the debt as per the agreement,” the submission said.

“Half a billion rands is an astonishing amount of money and could, in the long term, go a long way in stabilising the financial woes at Eskom,” said DA chief whip Natasha Mazzone.

“As such, the DA has written to minister Gordhan to request that he makes public the payment plans that Eskom has with these foreign governments which owe the utility millions in unpaid debt,” she said.

She said in addition to the R632m owed by these foreign power utilities, Eskom was also owed close to R20bn in outstanding debt by municipalities across South Africa.

“Clearly Eskom is incapable of collecting debts both at home and abroad. This begs the question: does Eskom actually have plans in place to collect debts owed to it?

“If not, the utility will never be able to stabilise its cash flow, and the taxpayer will continue to pay for bailout after bailout,” Mazzone said.