Deputy President David Mabuza has assured South Africans that the ongoing process of unbundling the state-owned power utility Eskom was meant to transform it to perform better in providing electricity to drive the nation’s economy.
The government had “no plans to privatise Eskom into a private entity,” the deputy president told lawmakers during an oral reply session in the National Assembly in Cape Town on Thursday.
“Government’s policy options and positions have not reached the point where privatisation is seen as an answer to providing better solutions to the current problems that are facing Eskom,” Mabuza said.
He announced that the restructuring process was at an advanced stage and would result in the transformation of the electricity sector.
“It would be inaccurate to characterise the current organisational transformation happening within Eskom as privatisation or implied intention to facilitate it,” he said.
He said the government was focusing on improving maintenance and repairs to ensure Eskom’s increased energy availability.
Eskom is currently undergoing the unbundling or legal separation into three subsidiary businesses namely generation, transmission and distribution.
According to the deputy president, this exercise is designed to enable Eskom to focus on improving efficiency as well as create greater transparency around performance and protection against corruption to realise the potential of an independent transmission system and market operator.
NM/jn/APA