Use PIC to Stabilise Eskom and other key SOE’s – AIDC

Use PIC to Stabilise Eskom and other key SOE’s – AIDC

AIDC Economic Justice Programme Manager Dominic Brown appeared on E.tv’s Morning Show to discuss the use of the Government Employees Pension Fund and The Public Investment Corporation to save Eskom.

This interview draws extensively from the Alternative Information and Development Centre’s research on the Government Employees Pension Fund and the Public Investment Corporation.

This research is vital because a spotlight has been placed on how the Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF) can be used to rescue Eskom and the country’s electricity crisis. Trade union federation, COSATU, proposed that R254 billion of the GEPF be used to deal with the SOEs unsustainable debt. This would win sufficient time for Eskom to put in place a process to transition to socially-owned renewable energy while ensuring that the lights stay-on.

The fact that this game-changing proposal has been supported by the President and the Minister of Public Enterprises is equally significant. The PIC deal is not a free lunch, it comes with a number of conditions, including preserving its public ownership (i.e. no to privatisation) and ensuring a just transition as the utility becomes a vehicle for driving a socially owned renewable energy sector as part of transitioning to a low-carbon economy. 

Critically, research done by the Alternative Information and Development Centre (AIDC), on which COSATU’s PIC proposal is based, proves that this proposal does not put public pensions at risk and that such a move could in fact bolster the financial position of the pension fund in the long run. 

Read “The PIC, Eskom Debt and Financing a Just transition.” for more