State guarantees of ESKOM's debt have been executed and meet Standard&Poor's criteria for timely, direct, and unconditional payment. We consider the South African utility a government-related entity under our criteria and assess the likelihood of extraordinary support, if needed, to be "extremely high". We are affirming our 'BBB+' foreign currency and 'A-' local currency corporate credit ratings on ESKOM. The negative outlooks on the foreign and local currency ratings reflect those on the Republic of South Africa. On Jan. 21, 2010, Standard&Poor's Ratings Services affirmed its 'BBB+' foreign currency and 'A-' local currency long-term corporate credit ratings (CCRs) on South African utility ESKOM Holdings Ltd. The 'zaAA+' long-term and 'zaA-1' short-term South Africa national scale ratings
