No immediate Eskom debt solution, as Minister outlines ‘tough love’ stance on SOEs

Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana offered no new insight in his maiden address to lawmakers into how government intended approaching the issue of Eskom’s R400-billion debt burden, which has been labelled unsustainable by the utility, and also refrained from making any new provisions for distressed State-owned enterprises (SOEs). Instead, he said that he would be adopting a “tough love” stance towards SOEs, albeit with the caveat that government would most likely support those entities regarded as “strategic”, such as Eskom, Transnet and Denel.