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By Siyabonga Mkhwanazi 
6h ago
Cape Town – Vice President David Mabuza has assured the country that they will turn the corner and fix Eskom despite starting another round of layoffs this week.
Mabuza told the National Council of Provinces on Thursday that there were plans to make Eskom work.
Part of the plan was to put the Medupi and Kusile power plants into operation soon. This would ensure greater power generation capacity for the country.
Mabuza also said that they want to incorporate independent power producers to ensure energy security.
Eskom introduced load shedding on stages 2 and 4 this week, and on Thursday night, it said it would drop to stage 3.
But the opposition parties had none of that, saying that reducing burdens would paralyze the economy.
“We have said this time and time again that we have an old fleet and this old fleet was not properly maintained,” Mabuza said.
“I’m sure that as the days go by we will get out of this problem. As we introduce Medupi and Kusile, our system will stabilize,” he said.
Mabuza also told MPs that Eskom’s restructuring will take two years.
This followed the government’s announcement to split Eskom into three entities for distribution, generation and transmission.
Mabuza said the Eskom team was busy moving forward with the power utility division.
However, this process will be completed in 2022.
Eskom has been under pressure as of late and this week it told the standing appropriations committee that its debt has risen from R440 billion to R448 billion.
Mabuza said they wanted to make sure Eskom reduced its debt and strengthened its balance sheet.
Mabuza also said that departments, businesses and households that owe Eskom must also start paying the power company.
The municipalities owe Eskom more than 28 billion rand and the debt has been increasing.
Political Bureau
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