Cosatu's Matthew Parks said the failure to adopt a credible plan to save Eskom would result in SA being downgraded by ratings agencies, with dire consequences.
Parliament – Cosatu told MPs on Wednesday its proposal to use public service pension funds to cut Eskom's debt by more than half were not without risk, but that the country had run out of options to prevent it from collapsing the economy.
But Parks also added another, more ideologicial argument for adopting Cosatu's plan to create a state-controlled special purpose vehicle to use R254 billion in Government Employee Pension Fund savings, managed by the Public Investment Corporation , to cut Eskom's debt. Parks said emotion risked obscuring key facts in the debate about the wisdom of a pension fund rescue effort for Eskom, including that pension payouts will not decline as a result.
"If Eskom collapses, there will be no stock market, and what is important to remember is that the PIC is invested in 1 200 companies. Academic and infrastructure expert Anton Eberhard, from the UCT Graduate School of Business, agreed with Cosatu's premise that Eskom's debt had to be addressed, warning that if the power utility were rid of all its other well-documented woes, it would still not be viable because of the repayment burden.
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