Eskom may be ‘permanently dependent’ on fiscus if reform conditions in debt-relief plan not met

The reform-related conditions outlined by the National Treasury as part of a R254-billion Eskom debt-relief package – including the concessioning of coal power stations to the private sector and allowing for private sector participation in the building and operation of grid infrastructure – “make sense” and are necessary both in the context of the just energy transition and revelations of embedded corruption withing Eskom’s coal supply-chain. This is the conclusion arrived at by a team of economists at the University of Witwatersrand’s Public Economy Project, who have published an analysis and commentary on the 2023 Budget.