Eskom latest: lawmakers reject establishing graft inquiry

South African lawmakers voted against establishing a panel to investigate claims of corruption at Eskom.

The electricity supplier is allegedly losing about R1 billion a month due to graft and theft, Eskom’s former Chief Executive Officer Andre de Ruyter said during an interview with local broadcaster e.tv. The alleged fraud involved people linked to the ruling African National Congress, he said.

A day later, Eskom announced that De Ruyter would leave the company with immediate effect, instead of March 31 as previously scheduled. He had resigned in December.

Municipal debt rises (March 23, 16:09 p.m.)

South Africa’s municipalities owed the state power power utility R56.3 billion by the end of last year, a debt that’s continued to rise, Deputy President Paul Mashatile said.

“It is clear that we need a debt relief strategy that will acknowledge the inherent risk of unviable municipalities,” he told lawmakers in Cape Town on Thursday. “Eskom will provide incentivised relief to municipalities whose debt is unaffordable. However, the relief will come with conditions that will ensure there is no repeat of debt buildup over time.”

Municipalities will be required to install additional prepaid electricity meters, and use their budgetary allocations more effectively and efficiently to qualify for assistance, according to the deputy president.

Outages take toll on economy (March 23, 15:07 p.m.)

Blackouts have reduced the potential size of South Africa’s economy by almost a fifth since they started being imposed around 2008, according to Lungile Mashele, sector specialist for energy and infrastructure at the Public Investment Corp., Africa’s biggest fund manager.

Outages can be expected every week this year and if the inadequate electricity generation situation isn’t addressed, the prospects for economic growth will be dismal, she told a conference in Johannesburg.

Power cuts sink South African consumer sentiment (March 23, 10:43 a.m.)

Consumer confidence plunged in the first quarter as intense power outages hamstrung economic activity and stoked food-price inflation.

A quarterly index measuring sentiment fell to -23 in the three months through March from -8 in the previous quarter, FirstRand Ltd.’s First National Bank said. That’s the lowest level since the second quarter of 2022, when deadly floods wrought havoc in the eastern KwaZulu-Natal province and the impact of the war in Ukraine started to manifest.

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