Cape Town - Eskom confirmed on Tuesday that a payment of R139 million from Zimbabwe had reflected in its account, after an earlier denial prompted the neighbouring state's energy minister to post proof of payment on his Twitter account.
"Eskom confirms that the payment made by Zimbabwe is reflecting in its account today. Discussions will continue with the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) to find a mutually beneficial solution to the outstanding debt," the South African power utility said.
"Eskom is a commercial operation and will be guided by the contracts we have in place with ZESA.
Zimbabwean Energy Minister Fortune Chasi said a fortnight ago that Zimbabwe would pay US$ 10 million to Eskom, roughly a third of its total debt to the company, to help ease his country's power shortage.
On Friday, outgoing Eskom CEO Phakamani Hadebe issued a statement that no payment towards ZESA's outstanding debt had come into Eskom's account yet.
Zimbabwe began implementing load-shedding last month after experiencing power shortages due to number of factors, including low water levels at its main hydro-electric plant, compromised generation capacity and problems with foreign imports.
ZESA owes Eskom another US$23 million.