South Africa allocates extra R59bn for cash-strapped Eskom

The South African government has made an extra R59-billion available to State-owned power utility Eskom over the next two years so it can meet its obligations, a Special Appropriation Bill seen by Reuters on Monday showed. Eskom, which supplies more than 90% of the country’s electricity but has implemented severe power cuts this year, fails to generate sufficient profit to meet its debt servicing costs and has required state cash injections to stay afloat.