Budget 2023: Rebuild Eskom and state capacity

The Institute for Economic Justice (IEJ) calls for the 2023/2024 Budget to abandon regressive macroeconomic policies and prioritize public investment in infrastructure, the green economy, and social services. The statement emphasizes the need for the state to absorb Eskom's debt, renegotiate power purchase agreements, and increase the Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant to the Food Poverty Line to combat extreme poverty and energy instability.

• The IEJ argues that National Treasury's focus on debt stabilization and primary budget surpluses has undermined government commitments, leading to insufficient funding for public services and a failure to address Eskom's debt and rising energy costs.
• To resolve the energy crisis, the document proposes that the state absorb Eskom's debt, utilize quasi-state creditors like the GEPF for debt write-offs or interest holidays, and use international climate finance to resolve debt while preventing privatization.
• The IEJ identifies three primary drivers of Eskom's energy costs that must be addressed: diesel, coal, and independent power producers (IPP). It specifically recommends renegotiating power purchase agreements from bid windows 1 to 4 and procuring diesel directly from wholesalers to save over R1 billion.
• The Just Energy Transition - Investment Plan (JET-IP) is criticized for insufficient funding for economic diversification (0.3%) and skills development (0.1%), with the IEJ calling for a reorientation toward job creation and the establishment of a social security fund for transitioning workers.
• The document calls for the Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant to be raised to at least the Food Poverty Line of R633, noting that budget caps caused approval numbers to drop from 10.9 million in March 2022 to 7.4 million in January 2023.
• The IEJ recommends a shift in monetary policy where the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) targets real GDP growth, employment, and exchange rate stability rather than focusing solely on nominal inflation.
• The statement highlights a disconnect between presidential promises and budget allocations, noting that real consolidated healthcare expenditure declined from R246.3bn to R242.2bn in 2022/23 and that 73,000 posts in the public basic education system remain vacant.

APA

Institute for Economic Justice (2023). Budget 2023: Rebuild Eskom and state capacity. https://iej.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/IEJ-STATEMENT_Budget-2023-Rebuild-Eskom-and-state-capacity.pdf

Chicago

Institute for Economic Justice. Budget 2023: Rebuild Eskom and state capacity. 2023. https://iej.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/IEJ-STATEMENT_Budget-2023-Rebuild-Eskom-and-state-capacity.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=Institute for Economic Justice |title=Budget 2023: Rebuild Eskom and state capacity |date=21 February 2023 |url=https://iej.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/IEJ-STATEMENT_Budget-2023-Rebuild-Eskom-and-state-capacity.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{instituteforeconomicjustice2023budget, author = {{Institute for Economic Justice}}, title = {{Budget 2023: Rebuild Eskom and state capacity}}, publisher = {Institute for Economic Justice}, year = {2023}, month = feb, url = {https://iej.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/IEJ-STATEMENT_Budget-2023-Rebuild-Eskom-and-state-capacity.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }