BusinessLive reports that Public Investment Corporation (PIC) CEO Dan Matjila has revealed that Eskom projected a R10bn negative cash flow for the first week of February and was saved from the brink of defaulting on its debt only by the one-month R5bn bridging facility that the PIC provided.  

This disclosure was made in a letter sent by Matjila to the chairman of Parliament’s standing committee on finance, Yunus Carrim.  Without the R5bn, Eskom’s going-concern status would have been jeopardised, Matjila told Carrim and emphasised that Eskom was "too important to fail".  A default would have put the PIC’s R95bn government-guaranteed exposure to Eskom at risk.  The PIC acts as investment manager on behalf of the Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF) and other statutory funds.  The decision to invest the R5bn was taken in consultation with the GEPF’s executive management and some members of its board of trustees, said Matjila.  The Public Servants Association (PSA) and the SA Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu) have objected to the loan because they were not consulted beforehand about the investment.  Matjila noted that the PIC was under no obligation to consult or inform any trade union when it implemented the mandate of the GEPF.

• Read this report by Linda Ensor in full at BusinessLive

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