“When Eskom said to the government: ‘We think we must invest more in terms of electricity generation’...we said not now, later. We were wrong. Eskom was right. We were wrong.” - Former President Thabo Mbeki 2007 Until 2001, Eskom was not subjected to taxes, dividends or other typical commercial imperatives. Eskom did not have to bear the full economic opportunity cost of capital employed to finance its investments (incl risk).