Government to look at Eskom workforce
President Cyril Ramaphosa has told investors that government will be looking at Eskom’s workforce, in an attempt to stabilize and restructure the embattled power utility.
President Ramaphosa made the comments at the Goldman Sachs investor conference in Johannesburg on Wednesday morning, where he outlined government’s plans to achieve inclusive growth and boost the economy over the next five years.
“So the governance was a major problem, the management was a major problem then it led to the ballooning of the staff where many more people were employed. Our power stations in terms of what we produce and the power we generate when we compare to others in the world, show that we are overstaffed. That is the problem we have inherited. We have to deal with it sensitively with our unions, with very thorough going discussions, without in the end just throwing people out willy nilly,” he says.
Eskom is currently struggling with a debt of R430 billion, following years of alleged large scale corruption and state capture.
Ramaphosa also made it clear that his administration will keep to its plan to unbundle Eskom into three entities which include transmission, distribution and generation.
The unbundling process will be headed by former Absa CEO Maria Ramos.