The Minister of Finance, Tito Mboweni, has confirmed in a letter to the Democratic Alliance (DA) that the National Treasury does not know how big the proposed bailout to Eskom will be.
Following the National Energy Regulator’s (Nersa) announcement of tariff increases, the DA wrote to the Minister to request an update on the bailout allocation to Eskom, given that the tariffs granted are lower than what the Treasury used to calculate the bailout announced in the 2019 National Budget.
In his budget speech the Minister said that they will give Eskom bailouts of R23 billion per year for the next three years. However, this is now likely to increase.
Given Eskom’s rolling blackouts and power failures across the country, it is shocking that almost two weeks after Nersa announced its tariff decision – Treasury, Eskom and the Department of Public Enterprises – have not concluded discussions on what is needed to start addressing the problems at Eskom. This is a clear indication that the ANC government is neither capable nor serious about fixing the catastrophic failures at Eskom.
The problems at Eskom were created by the ANC, and South Africa cannot rely on the ANC to fix these problems. The DA is the only party capable and big enough to keep the lights on in South Africa.