DA to table full, original Denton report in the National Assembly

16 February 2017

The DA will today request that the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Public Enterprises, Ms Letsatsi-Duba, summon the full, original Denton report, released by the Financial Mail yesterday, to the Committee for further inquiry.

As there are so many different versions of the report, the DA will also request that the Chairperson summon the authors of the report to testify under oath to the Committee.

This report cost South Africans R27 million rand and allegedly contains information on widespread corruption within the top ranks of the entity.

It must be noted that this report is still not allegedly the original, uncensored version of the report. It is alleged that the Eskom Board had the original draft destroyed, presumably to shield the entity and any implicated senior officials from accountability for any wrongdoing identified by Dentons.

Indeed, the “sanitised” report only contained vague generalisations that cannot be used to hold those in the wrong accountable.

To date, no credible reason for keeping the report censored has been given and the DA will continue with our application, in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) to gain access to the full and uncensored version of the report.

Despite the report being heavily censored, it reveals shocking details of extensive abuse of public funds by Eskom, including:

· Eskom failed to use its purchasing power to negotiate discounts for the supply of diesel, coal, and transportation, meaning that it overpaid and in so doing made the financial situation at the entity worse;
· Evidence that Eskom breached the Public Finance Management Act, 1999, and in so doing “contributed to its own financial challenges”;
· Contracts, worth R30 billion, were awarded to companies which had no real standing in the industry;
· Eskom employees allegedly set up companies which then benefited from Eskom contracts;
· Eskom executives and senior managers and their families allegedly benefitted personally from Eskom contracts; and

South Africans deserve to know what is going on at Eskom and to know that if anyone is found to have abused public funds for personal enrichment, they will be held to account.

Money should be spent on providing electricity to South Africans, so that the economy can grow, and jobs can be created, and not on lining the pockets of a few individuals.

The DA will not rest until the full report has been made public and that those implicated are fully investigated and held to account.

Issued by Natasha Mazzone, DA Shadow Minister of Public Enterprises, 16 February 2017