After years of lurching from crisis to crisis, Eskom, the embattled South African electricity utility, finally had something to celebrate last month when it announced an annual pre-tax profit of R23.9bn 1.4bn. This marks the first time in eight years that the state-owned company has been in the blac
"Following years of constrained performance, we are beginning to see the tangible benefits of our recovery strategies, with marked improvements across key financial metrics," said Eskom's chief financial officer Calib Cassim.
Eskom, like other state-owned utilities, has been mired in various corruption and mismanagement scandals for many years one former CEO even claims to have been targeted in a murder plot. Amid increasingly disastrous power cuts, known locally as loadshedding, President Cyril Ramaphosa launched 'Operation Vulindlela' - meaning "clear the way" - in 2020 in an effort to reform utilities. The government also appointed a new board for Eskom in 2022, bringing greater technical expertise.