Gordhan says Eskom faces tough turnaround

Gordhan says Eskom faces tough turnaround

The Minister of Public Enterprises Pravin Gordhan says Eskom will improve in the next few months.

Pravin Gordhan_gcis
Photo: GCIS


Gordhan was addressing Fedusa's second day of the Leadership and Collective Bargaining Conference in Pretoria today. 

"We don't have a choice but to get Eskom to work well. It's our biggest utility in some ways and provides a key service - the supply of electricity. I am confident that in a period of up to six months - we will begin to see the positive side of some things that Eskom has the potential to do. It's going to be a tough ride," Gordhan said. 

Yesterday, Eskom chair Jabu Mabuza admitted that the power utility was in trouble with its debt sitting at R1 trillion.

"We owe over half a trillion rand worth of debt with our total net asset value being R1.2 trillion. We are having a debt to equity ratio up to 70% when the acceptable benchmark is about 45 to 55%," Mabuza said.  

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A new Eskom board was appointed earlier this year as part of efforts to get the power utility back on track.

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