With Eskom in a financial mess, its chairman Jabu Mabuza has again stated it needs to cut staff numbers.

According to a report in the Sunday Times, Eskom will release a restructuring plan in September 2018 – where it will deal with cutting staff.

Mabuza has said that Eskom has “33% more people than was necessary”, stated the report.

In terms of numbers, Eskom aims to employ fewer than 37,000 people by April 2023. This will be down from its current staff complement of 48,628.

The move is a necessary one, as staff costs are one of Eskom biggest financial expenses. Debt is another huge drain on Eskom’s books.

Eskom recently released its financial results for the year ended March 2018, which showed that over its past financial year it made a R2.3-billion loss.

This was thanks to electricity sales numbers which were dwarfed by loan and interest repayments its had to make in the period.

Irregular spending

Irregular spending at Eskom also increased in the period, going up to R19.6 billion.

The organisation has also battled with claims of state capture and political interference in recent years, along with orders to build more coal-fired power stations at a time when international countries are moving to clean energy solutions.

The latest reports of staff cuts come after similar news earlier this month, when its was reported that Eskom management was looking at laying off 15,000 staff as part of a restructuring plan.