Eskom snuffing out foreign investment

South Africa’s ongoing energy crisis is not just costing the country billions, it’s also seriously jeopardising the country’s ability to attract foreign direct investment. South Africa has settled into the new normal of Stage 4 loadshedding which leaves households and businesses without power several times a day. President Cyril Ramaphosa has in recent months repeatedly admitted that Eskom is in crisis and that the risk it poses to South Africa is significant. Last week Minister of Public Enterprises Pravin Gordhan said the power
utility was seriously challenged in its ability to build up an emergency electricity margin. According to Gerhard Erasmus of tralac, the enormity of the situation unfolding at Eskom is just one aspect of a bigger infrastructure crisis. “South Africa has traditionally been associated with Africa’s best infrastructure, giving it an obvious advantage in terms of attracting investment and boosting further industrialisation. The validity of that assumption is in jeopardy,” he said.