For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Thabi Madiba.

Making headlines: Eskom’s survival depends on debt relief and tariffs; Sisulu a no-show at Tottenham Hotspur deal meeting; And, Steenhuisen blames Ramaphosa for ‘five wasted years’

Eskom’s survival depends on debt relief and tariffs

Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter says the utility needs debt relief in combination with tariff increases to survive.

The country has had 100 straight days of electricity cuts because of supply shortages largely caused by unreliable coal-fired power plants. Fixing the energy crisis that’s crimping the economy has become a central focus for President Cyril Ramaphosa’s government.

Financial constraints at Eskom, which has R396-billion of debt, combined with breakdowns, theft and sabotage at its plants have caused the utility to impose blackouts for about 15 years, but the outages have progressively worsened in the past five months with Ramaphosa’s administration scrambling to find a way out of the crisis. The blackouts are costing South Africa’s economy as much as R899-million a day, according to the central bank.

Sisulu a no-show at Tottenham Hotspur deal meeting

Tourism Minister Lindiwe Sisulu was a no-show at today’s meeting about South Africa's proposed sponsorship of Tottenham Hotspur. 

SA Tourism was supposed to account to the Portfolio Committee on Tourism on the controversial deal, which is expected to cost taxpayers almost R1-billion.

The committee took strong exception to Sisulu's absence.

SA Tourism's executives are expected to deliver a presentation to the committee.

And, Steenhuisen blames Ramaphosa for ‘five wasted years’

Democratic Alliance leader John Steenhuisen said that President Cyril Ramaphosa’s administration has dragged the country “down this path of failure over the past five wasted years”.

Delivering his own version of the State of the Nation ahead of Ramaphosa’s address on Thursday, Steenhuisen said the true state of the nation amounted to one in which people had a binary choice to make that would irrevocably shape South Africa for future generations.

He accused Ramaphosa of adding to what has been termed the ‘nine wasted years’ during which former president Jacob Zuma presided.

He called on South Africans to use their democratic right in the 2024 general election to give the DA a chance to make South Africa better.

The party believes that the Eskom energy crisis, which has burdened the country with sustained power cuts, is a result of African National Congress failures.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today

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