{"id":680663,"date":"2023-04-15T07:33:29","date_gmt":"2023-04-15T05:33:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=680663"},"modified":"2023-04-15T07:33:29","modified_gmt":"2023-04-15T05:33:29","slug":"more-money-to-fix-eskom-godongwana-makes-his-position-clear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/680663\/more-money-to-fix-eskom-godongwana-makes-his-position-clear\/","title":{"rendered":"More money to fix Eskom? Godongwana makes his position clear"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>South African Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana ruled out additional state funding for debt-laden power utility Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd., underscoring the government\u2019s disjointed approach to resolving the nation\u2019s debilitating energy crisis.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFrom where I sit, the utility does not require any further cash injection,\u201d Godongwana said in an interview at the International Monetary Fund\u2019s Spring Meetings in Washington on Friday.<\/p>\n<p>Godongwana\u2019s comments come after newly appointed Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa called for more fiscal support for the company that\u2019s survived on government bailouts since 2008, when it started imposing rolling blackouts that are hobbling Africa\u2019s most industrialized economy.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"VPfcmvyzvj\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/energy\/678749\/tough-choices-for-south-africa-as-stage-10-load-shedding-looms\/\">Tough choices for South Africa as stage 10 load shedding looms<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px);\" title=\"&#8220;Tough choices for South Africa as stage 10 load shedding looms&#8221; &#8212; BusinessTech\" src=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/energy\/678749\/tough-choices-for-south-africa-as-stage-10-load-shedding-looms\/embed\/#?secret=f7KXhMFrJs#?secret=VPfcmvyzvj\" data-secret=\"VPfcmvyzvj\" width=\"500\" height=\"282\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Eskom has subjected the country to blackouts for all but one 24-hour cycle this year as its poorly maintained coal-fired fleet struggles to meet demand.<\/p>\n<p>In February, Godongwana announced a R254 billion debt-relief package for Eskom, while affirming the National Treasury\u2019s commitment to reining in government debt and reducing budget deficits.<\/p>\n<p>The plan, which enables the utility to undertake critical maintenance needed to secure electricity supply, hinges on it meeting pre-determined performance targets that are meant to wean Eskom off its reliance on public finances. Straying from that strategy would test the credibility of South Africa\u2019s fiscal framework and budget processes in a country with a full house of junk credit ratings.<\/p>\n<p>Deviations would also rattle investors who have placed a premium on the currency because of the slow pace of economic reforms, severe power rationing and logistics-network constraints that are eroding the nation\u2019s growth prospects, disrupting local supply chains and stoking inflation.<\/p>\n<p>The rand has weakened 7.6% against the dollar this year, making it the second-worst performer in a basket of 16 major currencies tracked by Bloomberg.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Crisis Criticism<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>South Africa\u2019s government is facing sharp criticism over its handling of the energy crisis that\u2019s set to intensify during the looming winter months. While President Cyril Ramaphosa has introduced a series of measures, including incentives for businesses and households to self-generate power, it will take time for electricity supply to materially improve.<\/p>\n<p>Last week, the government rescinded two controversial measures \u2014 a state of disaster over the electricity crisis and a rule that temporarily exempted Eskom from disclosing irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure \u2014 after a public outcry.<\/p>\n<p>Eskom was hard-hit during an era of graft, known locally as state capture. The creation of an electricity portfolio in the presidency also raised concerns about the multiplicity of ministries that Eskom now reports to.<\/p>\n<p>Godongwana said that while rising debt-service costs in South Africa are a concern \u2014 they account for about 20% of main budget revenue and crowd out spending on healthcare and education \u2014 he remains confident that the government can manage its debt load.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am quite comfortable about managing those increases,\u201d he said. \u201cMy worry is that they are crowding out other expenditure.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Read: <a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/energy\/680659\/eskom-says-sorry-for-stage-6-load-shedding\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">Eskom says sorry for stage 6 load shedding<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Electricity minister says the government shouldn&#8217;t shy away from spending more to fix Eskom.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":660715,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-680663","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680663","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=680663"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680663\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":680665,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680663\/revisions\/680665"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/660715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=680663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=680663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=680663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}