Hands off Eskom. That was the message from Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema to President Cyril Ramaphosa on Tuesday during the debate on the State of the nation address.

Speaking in the National Assembly, Malema criticised Ramaphosa's announcement that Eskom will be unbundled and split into three separate entities - "generation, transmission and distribution - under Eskom Holdings".

"You will soon become the enemy of the people and workers if you go ahead with some of the proposals. Eskom will not be privatised and there are no retrenchments that are going to take place," Malema warned Ramaphosa, while at the same time accusing the president of using Eskom to further the business interests of friends and allies.