Those who ruined Eskom must be held to account: Gordhan

Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan says those who left Eskom in a mess should be called back to Parliament to account if necessary.  

Gordhan made the comments as Eskom’s new leadership appeared before the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) in Parliament on Tuesday night.  

The power utility appeared before the committee in a hearing on procurement deviations and investigations in Eskom.  

Minister Gordhan says there must be accountability.  

“I think honourable Dirks is right, anybody can be called before a committee. Perhaps we must actually call the culprits who left Eskom in the mess that it is in, and that we are trying to solve at this point in time. That was then partly in the old Enterprises Committee in 2017. There is a report that arises from that. But if there are further issues, we must get them to account for what is happening,” says Gordhan.  

Actions against corruption  

In October last year, Eskom said it would ensure that action is taken against employees proven to have been involved in corruption and maladministration.  

This after the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) investigated over 5000 employees at the power utility and gave feedback to Scopa on its investigations into alleged corruption into coal, diesel and building contracts involving billions of rands. 

Meanwhile, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) called for an internal audit at the power utility, saying it believes corruption is continuing at management level.  

This after Eskom had announced a loss of R21 billion 2018/19; the largest-ever corporate loss in South Africa. 

NUM, NUMSA and Solidarity have reiterated their call for the government to terminate Eskom’s contracts with independent power producers who would supply renewable energy to the grid, saying the IPPs pricing models are unsustainable. 

In the video below, NUM President Joseph Montisetse says Eskom cannot be financially sustainable until corruption is rooted out:  

[embedded content]

-Additional reporting by Aphumelele Mdlalane