News24Wire reports that President Cyril Ramaphosa told workers and staff at the Medupi power station six times in an address that state-owned power utility Eskom would not be sold off or privatised.
He scaled back criticism when he visited the coal-fired power plant in Limpopo on Tuesday, saying its construction was a "great achievement" that SA and Africa should be proud of. Ramaphosa’s visit coincided with the commercialisation of the fifth of six units at the plant. The president told workers and staff that privatising Eskom would be like selling the family silver. "You don’t do that," he said. The president confirmed that it was necessary to split Eskom unto three divisions – generation, transmission, and distribution – saying this was needed to improve its efficiency and make it competitive. The National Union of Mineworkers has said it is against plans to split the power utility into three because it will result in job losses. Ramaphosa also indicated that all six units at Medupi should be fully operational by 2020. According to Bloomberg calculations, the combined costs of Medupi and the Kusile plant have risen to R451-billion, about the same amount as Eskom's outstanding debt burden. The two plants were originally expected to be completed by 2015 at a total cost of R163-billion.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard at Engineering News
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