Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy Gwede Mantashe told reporters on the sidelines of the Investing in African Mining Indaba in Cape Town that the government hoped to create a new power generation entity distinct from Eskom. Mantashe told reporters during a briefing after his address that he had invited investors to either partner with the government or invest on their own in the creation of an alternative power generation entity. The minister did not provide much detail about the scope of new entity. Asked by reporters for more information, Mantashe said the entity would depend, in part, "on the appetite of investors". The comes as Eskom announced on Monday that load shedding would continue until at least Thursday morning. The State-run power utility has about R450-billion of debt, and is not earning enough from electricity sales at current prices and volumes to pay off the interest on the debt.
