The South African cabinet on Tuesday called for speedy resolution of electricity problems to bring energy certainty in the country.
The Minister in the Presidency Jackson Mthembu said this on Tuesday at a press briefing in Pretoria about the outcome of the Cabinet meeting on December 13.
He said the cabinet mandated the Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan to negotiate with Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter.
"The cabinet fully supports efforts meant to ensure electricity supply certainty in our country. Mr de Ruyter together with management team will immediately deal with concerning issues, governance, lack of financial management as well as stabilize operations at Eskom," said Mthembu.
De Ruyter was recently appointed by the government as the Eskom CEO and is scheduled to commence work on Jan. 15 next year.
Mthembu said, "This include dealing with huge backlog of maintenance fleet of their power stations and the structural defects of Medupi and Kusile power stations. Renewables will play a key role in our energy supply to complement efforts of Eskom."
Mthembu also mentioned the stability in other state owned enterprises.
He said the cabinet welcomed the business rescue put on the South Africa Airways and hoped it would bring confidence in the airliner.
The cabinet also approved the bio-fuel regulatory framework which has an immediate less carbon intensive alternative.
Early this month the country experienced a serious load-shedding due to aging machinery, rainy season and lack of governance in the power utility Eskom.
Editor: Cherie
