Goldman Sachs CEO says Eskom plan will take far too long

Goldman Sachs’ CEO for sub-Saharan Africa said in a report that Ramaphosa’s plan to unbundle Eskom into three entities will take far too long to make a meaningful dent in a crisis that’s hurting the country now.

Estimating that the complex restructuring process will take three or four years, he said that the Eskom crisis cannot wait that long. He prefers a vertically integrated entity with decent management that starts to fix the problems right now.

Obviously, we would all prefer that the problems be fixed immediately – what’s unclear is just how that could possibly be done.

Nevertheless, Coleman’s statement is chilling. The Eskom restructuring has been advertised as the core of the plan to fix the ailing utility. But Coleman is right. With more load shedding threatening this week, the country can’t wait four years for a fix.