What is one to make of the apparently contradictory statements coming from Treasury to the electricity War Room, versus those of the Secretary General of the ANC, Gwede Mantashe, regarding the need to recapitalise Eskom? A solution to the country's energy crisis may be found in restructuring Eskom in a manner consistent with official energy policy, but this would require a totally new orientation. By DIRK DE VOS.
While Treasury Director-General Lungisa Fuzile says that Eskom is revisiting policy from the 1990's which would allow the private sector to hold stakes of up to 30% in generating assets, Gwede Mantashe says that the ANC has decided not to privatise Eskom. However, he then mentioned approvingly the "Chinese model" of listing state-owned assets.
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