Has Eskom run out of money?

Johannesburg - The public has a right to know whether Eskom is bankrupt, the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) said on Thursday.

It was calling on the power company to "come clean" about its financial fitness, IFP minerals and energy spokesperson Eric Lucas said in a statement.

It's "ridiculous" call for a 53% price hike showed that it had no regard for its consumers and had failed the people of South Africa, he said.

"Many poor people only recently received access to electricity and with these increases electricity will become unaffordable and inaccessible to the poorest of the poor."

However, Lucas questioned whether Eskom had deliberately set itself up for rejection knowing that a refusal of the increase would enable it to "just blame the government again" if there was still no reliable electricity supply in sight in years to come.

Eskom was hurting the country's international image and this would have a devastating effect on the economy, he said.

"With the current uncertainty regarding our electricity supply, foreign investors will without a doubt take their investments elsewhere."

Lucas said Eskom was mismanaged and had failed "miserably" in empowering South Africa, its people and the economy and providing the electricity foundation for positive sustainable development.

"The IFP would like to call on government to open up the channels for independent electricity suppliers to become part of the national electricity grid," he said.

- SAPA