Eskom to get R5bn bailout

Johannesburg - South Africa will hand over R5 billion ($321 million) to Eskom Holdings as the final payment of a capital injection into the state-owned power utility, the National Treasury said just days after Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan announced that it will withhold the funds.

“Treasury is working on a process to have the 5 billion rand transferred next week,” Phumza Macanda, a Treasury spokeswoman, said in a text message.

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Gordhan said on Wednesday the government will postpone the last payment of a R23 billion bailout for Eskom until the utility implemented further cost cuts, improved maintenance and executed its capital-expenditure program.

The funding was promised in 2014 as a rescue package for the company, which has been struggling to fund new plants while suffering breakdowns at its aging operations, prompting frequent power cuts in 2015.

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