The National Assembly has approved a special appropriations bill granting Eskom an additional R59 billion bailout.
The Bill was passed on Tuesday by 200 votes to 105, with the ANC prevailing against dissent from opposition MP's who want greater intervention to turn around the struggling power utility
The ANC said the bill was essential to keeping the lights on, but African Christian Democratic Party MP Steve Swart said it seemed that the government lacked the political will to intervene decisively to make Eskom a viable operation.
Swart noted that MPs who fought to expose the corruption that was prevalent in the company during the so-called state capture era had been sidelined.
"Sadly, very little action taken against criminals. Those implicated have been re-elected and occupy seats in this very house. This is the reason for my outrage," he said.
United Democratic Movement MP Nqabayomzi Kwankwa said it was baffling that MPs were asked to be "throwing money at the problem" when it had emerged that Eskom had overpaid suppliers to the tune of R4 billion.
Eskom has almost R500 billion in debt.
The Democratic Alliance's Ashor Sarupen said at times it seemed that Eskom was burning actual money instead of coal.
"Eskom has a gun to the head of this government, ready to pull the trigger on a sovereign debt crisis at any time if National Treasury does not do its bidding," he said in the debate on the bill.
Finance minister Tito Mboweni tabled the bill in July to help Eskom meet its financial obligations, extending an extra R26bn to Eskom in 2019/20 and R33bn in 2020/2021.
It adds to R69bn allocated to Eskom in the national budget in February.
- African News Agency (ANA
