City Press reports that, although Eskom incurred massive losses in its last financial year, it still managed to pay each employee an average bonus of R88 000.  

The total bonus amount of R4.2bn (R2.1bn in 2016) was paid out the week before last, despite the fact that the state-owned power utility made a loss.  If the total amount allocated for bonuses is divided by all 47,658 of Eskom’s employees, each one would have received a bonus of at least R88,000.  Khulu Phasiwe, Eskom’s spokesperson, stated that bonuses were awarded on the basis of performance and added that not every Eskom employee had received a bonus.  Solidarity’s Deon Reyneke said he had “no idea why there was such a big difference between this year’s figures and last year’s figures ... explaining where the money came from is difficult”.

• Read this report by Leanne George in full at City Press

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