Cape Town - Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan has not found out whether the planned move to take Eskom from his department to the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy would contribute to solving the energy crisis.
Gordhan was responding to parliamentary questions from DA MP Benedicta van Minnen, who asked about the basis for moving Eskom from his department to the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy.
In his response, Gordhan said the matter was still under consideration.
“No decisions have been made, save that the President has indicated that the reconfiguration of government will occur after the next election in 2024,” he said.
The ANC took a resolution at its national congress in December 2022 that state-owned entities (SOEs) be moved out of the Department of Public Enterprises into their line ministries.
In terms of the conference resolution, Eskom is scheduled to be moved to the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy.
When Van Minnen asked whether Gordhan has found that the move was going to contribute to solving the energy crisis, he said: “No, I have not.”
He also said his department has not sought legal opinion with regard to the potential shifting of Eskom from the Public Enterprises Department to the Mineral Resources and Energy Department.
In a separate question, IFP MP Mzamo Buthelezi asked whether the plan to relocate SOEs to the respective departments had been abandoned.
Gordhan said the relocation of state-owned enterprises was the prerogative of the President.
He also said the 2022 and 2023 State of the Nation Addresses made reference to the work and recommendations of the Presidential SOE Council and, the global trend towards a centralised shareholder model as highlighted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and various country experiences.
“The lessons of State Capture and recommendations of Chief Justice Zondo, among others, must be taken into account to proactively prevent corruption.”
Meanwhile, Gordhan said any further funding to Eskom to buy diesel would depend on the entity’s financial projections for the financial year starting in April and what could be recoverable in tariffs.
Van Minnen asked the minister whether he had plans in place to assist Eskom to purchase the required diesel for the rest of the financial year following Eskom’s vast overspend in the current financial year.
In November, it was reported that Eskom exhausted its budget allocated for diesel for the year and that it had spent almost R7 billion six months into 2022.
In his response, Gordhan said diesel funding was addressed through the approval by guarantee for the entity to borrow additional R4bn to R5bn in the capital markets.
“Any further assistance will depend on the financial projections for 2023/24 and NERSA’s decision on what may be recoverable in tariffs.
“The challenges presented by the pricing policy of PetroSA and the fate of the license application by Eskom to be designated an importer will also have a bearing on this matter,” he said.
Gordhan said it was absolutely self-evident that the cost of diesel usage paled into insignificance compared to the cost imposed on the economy and citizens by excessive load shedding.
Cape Times