"The decision made by the Eskom board - a board appointed not by the ANC but by  government as main shareholder in Eskom - should be respected as being a product of due process and having been made in the best interests of Eskom -not the ANC or anyone else. There is a distinct difference between a political party and government," said IoDSA Chief Executive Lindie Engelbrecht.

"We do agree that there may be a perceived conflict if any board members are closely linked with or connected to the ANC, and we can only assume that such a conflict was appropriately disclosed and managed. However, to automatically conclude that there was some form of preference during the board decision process is  not reasonable and by implication calls into question the integrity of board members in fulfilling their fiduciary duties."

According to Engelbrecht, "only if there is evidence that the board awarded the contract to Hitachi on the basis of the shareholding and for the benefit of the ANC, and it was not the best tender, then it would be a contravention of governance".

As to statements by commentators calling Eskom's decision ‘legally correct but morally reprehensible', Engelbrecht responded: "Again this presupposes that there was undue benefit and unethical behaviour by the board of Eskom. One cannot just make this assumption."

"In fact, if there is so little faith in the people on the board of Eskom, the problem is much wider than just this. One then has to assume that they are making most decisions in the best interests of the ANC, which is frankly ridiculous."

"Furthermore, it is not correct to say that the ANC appoints the board of Eskom as it is the role of government; and if you believe that government only represents the ANC, then South Africa does not have a true democracy," concluded Engelbrecht.

Statement issued by Lindie Engelbrecht, CEO IoDSA, January 22 2010

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