CAPE TOWN, S. Africa, April 4 (NNN-SA NEWS) – The South African business sector, pledged to help the government stabilise power supply, as the country is to face more power blackouts.
In a joint statement with the presidency, Business Unity South Africa (BUSA), assured President Cyril Ramaphosa of the business community’s support for current efforts, to secure the sustainability of state-run Eskom as a power utility.
This followed a new spate of rolling power outages, that have gripped the country since Feb.
Cash-strapped Eskom, which provides about 95 percent of the electricity consumed in the country, has been blamed for poor management and corruption, which are believed to be the main factors that have led to the power crisis. The utility company is staggering under a heavy debt amounting to 420 billion rand (about 30 billion U.S. dollars).
BUSA, South Africa’s largest business federation, affirmed its commitment to leveraging its membership, in order to place expertise, skills and technological interventions, at the disposal of the government and Eskom, to reinforce actions that are currently being implemented to stabilise Eskom and to secure the supply of electricity.
BUSA’s engagement will serve to complement the work being done by the management and board of Eskom, in partnership with the special cabinet committee on Eskom, according to the statement.
Ramaphosa welcomed the initiative presented by BUSA, saying, the new channel for greater transparency and the sharing of information would facilitate and encourage improved coordination among stakeholders, that would assist in the day-to-day improvement of the current situation.
South Africa suffered from power insufficiency since 2008. Power cuts have cost the economy billions of dollars and are becoming commonplace since Feb, when Eskom implemented the most extensive load shedding in recent years.– NNN-SA NEWS