The Auditor General (AG) says Eskom is in serious financial trouble, with R57 billion in operating losses and current liabilities exceeding current assets by R50 billion, as reported by Daily Investor with permission by Mybroadband.

The AG reported to Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Electricity and Energy on 29 January 2025.

Eskom has made very little progress in implementing recommendations made by auditors over the years. Consequently, the underlying causes for its demise have not been addressed.

Eskom’s financial statements continue to contain material misstatements in multiple account balances and disclosures.

Significant internal control deficiencies resulting in negative audit outcomes for over five years have not been addressed.

Material breakdown in controls over compliance with applicable laws and regulations hinder Eskom’s ability to prevent material non-compliance findings, resulting in qualified audit opinions:

  • Inadequate action against officials contravening supply chain management prescripts which encourages disregarding legislation, policies, and procedures;
  • Not meeting its 80% energy availability factor target, not increasing the reserve margin, and not reaching its planned R22 billion savings;
  • Failing to comply with environmental laws and regulations, a backlog of forensic cases, and not meeting minimum financial standards.

Eskom lacks appropriate systems, processes, and controls to quantify irregular, fruitless, and wasteful expenditures or losses due to criminal conduct.

The AG’s recommendations include:

  • Implementing measures to strengthen internal capacity, consequence management and the control environment;
  • Implementing measures to address the internal control deficiencies;
  • Assessing the effectiveness of proper record-keeping processes;
  • Developing a better audit action plan to address the causes of repeated material misstatements in financial statements;
  • Monitoring action plans through an internal audit, with the audit committee playing an oversight role in ensuring effective implementation and monitoring;
  • Developing a plan to respond to all drivers of material weaknesses though key individuals implementing and monitoring preventative controls.


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