Busa: Mini budget must deal with Eskom debt

 The plea comes as Godongwana prepares to table his mid-term budget policy statement on Wednesday.

"Busa's priorities are the following; we need some news on what the state's plans are to take over some of Eskom's debt, however, they structure that," says CEO Cas Coovadia. 

"But we need some signal from the minister on how they intend to do that and on what quantum because that is critical to Eskom's sustainability." 

The call by Busa is one that the Democratic Alliance (DA) strongly opposes.

Briefing the media on Tuesday, the DA has reiterated its call for the privatisation of the state-owned entity. 

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"Based on this grim energy outlook, the DA reiterates its call for the privatisation of Eskom and the opening up of the energy sector to Independent Power Producers (IPPs) as continued state ownership of the entity has not served to benefit the poor. We reject any plan to transfer Eskom’s debt onto the national balance sheet," said the party. 

Meanwhile, the Congress for South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) has called on the government to announce plans to solve the country's power problems.

"You are not going to have an economy if you are not going to have a reliable electricity supply. What we want to hear is can we solve loadshedding and when,” the federation’s Sizwe Pamla said.

There is currently no end in sight for South Africans, who are expected to endure the rolling blackouts for at least 18 months. 

The country will be battling stage 3 and four load shedding for the foreseeable future.