BusinessLive reports that Public Enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan says that, contrary to public speculation, the unbundling of Eskom is on track.  

Opposition political parties last week claimed the ANC had been cowed into silence and inaction by its alliance partners, Cosatu and the SA Communist Party, on the issue of unbundling Eskom and this was why President Cyril Ramaphosa did not mention unbundling in his State of the Nation Address (Sona) last week.  Gordhan indicated the following in the Sona debate on Tuesday:  “Eskom has begun to develop a road map to implement the proposals in the February 2019 state of the nation address: to separate its generation, transmission and distribution functions into three separate business entities, wholly owned by the state.”  The government wants to split the embattled power utility into three separate units: generation, transmission and distribution.  Trade unions have argued that the proposed split will not solve Eskom’s governance and debt problems, and that it will lead to job losses.  Those in favour of the unbundling argue that it will create a more efficient system.  “There is no deviation from this strategic path [splitting Eskom] — not in cabinet or in government — contrary to persistent public speculation,” Gordhan said in his speech.

• Read the full original of Bekezela Phakathi’s report in the above regard at BusinessLive

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