In his first state of the nation address since winning the May 8 election, South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa pledged to speed up 230 billion rand ($16.11 billion) of support for the struggling state-owned power utility Eskom, which he said cannot be allowed to fail, reported Reuters.
He called ailing power utility too vital to our economy and said its financial position remains a matter of grave concern.
“Eskom is too vital to our economy to be allowed to fail,” Ramaphosa said. “We will, therefore, table a special appropriation bill on an urgent basis to allocate a significant portion of the 230 billion rand fiscal support that Eskom will require over the next 10 years in the early years.”
He urged South Africans to pay their power bills and do their part.
The South African government pledged a 23 billion rand a year bailout over three years. But, Eskom needs more cash to keep the lights on after nationwide blackouts this year.
Ramaphosa said fixing Eskom and other loss-making state-owned firms such as South African Airways (SAA) is important to boost up confidence among the investors South Africa relies on to finance its current account and budget deficits.
“To meet our growth targets, we will rebuild the foundations of our economy by revitalizing and expanding the productive sectors,” the president said, including “clothing and textiles, gas, chemicals and plastics, renewables, and steel and metals fabrication sectors.”
In his address to the parliament, Ramaphosa called for a focus on the creation of jobs for the youth, improving education, reducing hunger and inequality and halving violent crime over the next decade.
He also announced that he wants South Africa to build “a new city” during the next 25 years of democracy. He said the dream of building a new city was sparked by conversations with a handful of people including Chinese President Xi Jinping and his account of building a new city outside Beijing.
