Eskom’s acting CEO has travelled to China as the state-owned utility implements record power cuts that are hobbling the economy.

Calib Cassim accompanied public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan on the trip to Beijing, chairman Mpho Makwana said by phone on Wednesday, declining to provide further details.

“The minister will address those issues via a press conference when he is back,” Makwana said.

Gordhan’s department oversees Eskom. His spokesman, Ellis Mnyandu, referred a request for comment to Eskom. The utility’s media desk didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment sent by e-mail.

Eskom has been implementing rolling blackouts since 2008 to reduce reliance on its ailing power plants. Those outages have intensified in recent years and the country has been subjected to 16 consecutive months of blackouts that can last as long as 12 hours a day.

Gordhan travelled to China earlier this month to discuss an impasse that’s blocked the delivery of locomotives and spare parts needed to improve the performance of state rail and ports operator Transnet. South Africa’s Minerals Council, an industry lobby group, estimates that the sector forfeited R50-billion in 2022 because of constraints on the nation’s freight-rail network.

Gordhan met Zhang Yuzhuo, director of China’s Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council, on Tuesday.

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The commission will “support China’s central enterprises in accordance with the principles of marketisation and rule of law, and strengthen cooperation with South African state-owned enterprises in transportation and energy security”, it said in a statement on Wednesday. — S’thembile Cele and Paul Burkhardt, with Amogelang Mbatha and Fran Wang, (c) 2023 Bloomberg LP