Date: Aug 30, 2018
The embattled national power supplier, Eskom, is hanging on by a thread as its coal reserves dwindle and mass protest action looms.
Eskom is on the ropes and pleading for mercy. In a recent Parliamentary address, company chairperson, Jabu Mabuza, sang a woeful song of financial collapse and industrial action.
Gupta deal brings Eskom to its knees
While the situation at Eskom is now beyond dire, Mabuza did have the guts to admit that all the company’s current problems have been self-inflicted.
Those self-inflicted wounds include R19 billion in irregular expenditure, gross operational mismanagement and signing a coal contract with the Gupta-owned Tegeta. All of these issues are interlinked, and they are all crippling South Africa’s national power utility.
The final nail in Eskom’s already pre-ordered coffin may be that coal stockpiles at nine of its 15 stations are now below the required levels and are standing at less than a month’s supply.
