DA to PAIA R27 million Eskom report

30 January 2017

The DA will today submit an application in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) to gain access to the report by Dentons into Eskom, which cost R27 million and is said to contain information on widespread corruption within the top ranks of the entity.

The report was commissioned in 2015 to investigate the reasons behind widespread load shedding, which had crippled the country, and the delays in the infrastructure build. Its findings include extensive corruption, implicating now acting CEO, Matshela Koko.

No credible reason for keeping the report secret has been given. Board chairperson and spin doctor extraordinaire, Dr Ben Ngubane, claims the report has not been released because it is being used to rectify the identified problems at Eskom. Yet, Minister Browne has directly contradicted this claim by saying that the report, which took three months to compile, was not thorough enough.

South Africans deserve to know how public funds are spent and this report should be made public in the interest of transparency and openness.

Yet again, Eskom finds itself entangled in a web of lies, contradictions and inaccuracies.

Media reports today indicate that Minister of Public Enterprises, Lynne Brown, has no idea of what is really happening in Eskom, no political influence with regards to the running of the entity and is party to another embarrassing scandal that has cost South Africa millions of rands.

The more that Brown tries to run and hide, the more the very people she is obviously trying to protect trip her up.

Issued by Natasha Mazzone, DA Shadow Minister of Public Enterprises, 30 January 2017