Only four years after apartheid’s white minority rule fell, South Africa in 1998 produced a new White Paper on Energy Policy that was set to endow its power industry with a state-of-the-art (for its time) commercial and governance structure. It would unbundle (split into specialised companies) the giant state utility Eskom, whose size and technical capacity, and ability to deliver infrastructure, meant the national champion was rated among the world’s top four power companies.
Fast-forward 25 years, during which Eskom has declined from continental powerhouse to floundering in an ever more severe crisis. South African consumers have been condemned to rolling blackouts and onerous debts; all of which have shaved percentage points off the gross domestic product (GDP).
So grave are Eskom’s financial problems that Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana – backed by key power-broker Minerals and
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