Question NW4121 to the Minister of Finance
25 November 2022 - NW4121
Buthelezi, Mr EM to ask the Minister of Finance
With the National Treasury taking over Eskom’s debt as a way to ensure that the entity is financially sustainable, which translates to more money being allocated to the entity again to achieve its goal, (a) how does the National Treasury intend to balance the flow of Government’s money into Eskom, government debt and service delivery goals in all other government departments and (b) what are the relevant details of the assurance and/or empirical evidence that the National Treasury indicates that this debt transfer will indeed result in a sustainable Eskom and the entity will not need continuous support from the Government, considering the amount of work it still needs to do in order to be fully operational?
Reply:
a) National Treasury is currently working on the detail execution plan for Eskom’s debt that will incorporate mechanisms that will not negatively impact the fiscus. As announced by the Minister of Finance in his Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement, the details of this plan will be announced at the Budget 2023.
b) Details of the various elements of the Eskom debt relief package, including mechanisms to tackle arrear debt, cost reflective tariffs, cost optimisation, and unbundling, amongst others, will be tabled at the Budget 2023, following the necessary approvals.
National Treasury is also engaging with the relevant stakeholders to ensure that the debt solution that will be implemented will turn Eskom into a sustainable entity that will not rely on the fiscus.