Thalia Holmes
“In recent months it has become clear that Eskom requires urgent financial support and operational reforms,” says the National Treasury in the 2019 budget detail.
Market commentators might describe this as the euphemism of the year, or argue why this only became apparent in “recent months”. The ailing state utility operator is labouring under R416-billion in debt, has introduced several waves of shock loading-shedding stints, and recently requested a R100-billion bailout from the government. Its tariff increases have steeply exceeded that of inflation since 2008, caused in part by a need to service high operational costs (in 2017/18 those amounted to R132-billion), and its heavy debt burden.
Its massive flagship projects, Medupi and Kusile, have been in the limelight almost since inception, for all the wrong reasons. Now, footing a combined bill of over R300-billion, these power stations are grossly over budget and over schedule; and it has
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