South Africa’s electricity minister has set out a broader “Eskom 2.0” mandate that combines generation growth, transmission expansion and municipal revenue reform. The shareholder statement, published on 25 September 2026, says Eskom plans to engage potential partners for approximately 2 GW of renewable-energy capacity.
The wording matters: the statement describes a planned engagement with potential partners. It does not identify a tender number, procurement timetable, preferred bidders, contract value or awarded capacity. Civic Ledger therefore records the 2 GW figure as a proposed process, not a completed procurement.
Municipal debt is treated as a system constraint rather than a separate local-government problem. The statement says the Department will work with National Treasury, COGTA and SALGA on payment discipline and sustainable municipal electricity supply, while calling for Free Basic Electricity to reach eligible households and for smart metering to improve service delivery and revenue collection.
The same mandate calls for faster transmission expansion, Independent Transmission Projects, cross-border interconnectors, lower system losses and revenue leakage, stronger procurement and maintenance, and a goal of an unqualified audit. No rand value, debt settlement amount or project-specific schedule is supplied for those measures.
What it means
The statement raises the accountability burden across three linked areas: whether the 2 GW partner process becomes a transparent procurement; whether transmission projects move from policy to funded construction; and whether municipal payment reform protects basic services while improving Eskom’s cash collection. Each requires later primary records before progress can be claimed.
Correction history
No material correction is recorded for this article as of 23 September 2026. Any correction will be listed on the corrections register.