Cosatu said it won’t reach a pact with business on how to resolve the debt crisis at Eskom by the time President Cyril Ramaphosa gives his state-of-the-nation speech on Thursday.
Browsing: Energy and sustainability
South Africa’s power cuts hurt the economy in the fourth quarter, and two data points on Tuesday showed just how bad it was.
Eskom recently attempted to ensure that there would be no load shedding during the morning peak of 6am to 9am. There are a number of problems with this short-lived plan.
Eskom has lost its bid to have a court overrule the state energy regulator and allow higher tariffs.
Vestas Wind Systems is shopping for a new buyer for its 12.5% stake in Africa’s largest wind farm after Google dropped plans to purchase it following project delays.
Cosatu, the country’s biggest labour federation, said it wants the R104-billion Eskom’s debt held by the state pension fund manager to be converted into equity owned by workers.
Proposals to reorganise the R454-billion owed by Eskom are days away from completion, according to an official who’s overseen their formulation.
The bold proposal by Cosatu to relieve Eskom of close to 60% of its debt using pension money may be presented by President Cyril Ramaphosa in next week’s state of the nation address.
Eskom warned that stage-2 load shedding will continue until the end of the week and is likely this weekend, too, and South Africans should get used to regular rolling blackouts for the next year and a half.
The Democratic Alliance has lambasted a government proposal to create a second state-owned electricity generation company in South Africa, labelling the plan “utter madness”.