Eskom’s long awaited rescue plan - Pravin Gordhan

The weight of Eskom on our economy is like the world that the Greek god Atlas had on his shoulders. It was his punishment handed down by Zeus; in South Africa’s case it was a burden handed down to all of us by the Zuma administration. And if I can stick to the Greek analogy; it will take a Herculean task to lift that weight. Today, Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan unveiled his special paper to fix the debt-stricken power utility. The government hopes that its roadmap will put Eskom on a long-term sustainability path. It has been a long seven months since President Cyril Ramaphosa's State of the Nation address when he announced that Eskom will be split into three entities. In that time South Africa again experienced power blackouts and Parliament approved a R59bn bailout to Eskom over two years. Ramaphosa and Gordhan were also fighting internal battles in the ANC-alliance particularly with the unions on their plans. Ramaphosa hopes that the Eskom roadmap will persuade Moody’s to keep its investment grade rating on Friday. The plan will end Eskom’s century-old monopoly of the electricity industry. - Linda van Tilburg