TRADE AND INDUSTRY COMMITTEE CHAIRPERSON WELCOMES SWIFT ACTION ON SABS REGARDING POSSIBLE IRREGULAR TESTS ON TEGETA COAL
Parliament – Thursday, 22 February 2018 – The swift action taken by the Department of Trade and Industry regarding possible manipulation of tests at the South African Bureau of Standards (SABS) related to Eskom’s procurement of coal from the Brakfontein/Tegeta mines was welcomed today by the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Trade and Industry.
The initial information regarding SABS’s approval of the coal was mentioned during the work of another Committee of Parliament during the Inquiry into Eskom. That Committee heard that as over 50% of the coal from the Tegeta mine was non-compliant, the contract was suspended. A witness testified that the suspension was later lifted after tests done by the SABS.
Portfolio Committee on Trade and Industry Chairperson, Ms Joanmariae Fubbs, said she had become aware that since this evidence, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has investigated the matter and that senior management of SABS uncovered a possible case of collusion and/or manipulation of SABS processes that occurred at the SABS laboratory in Mpumalanga. The Minister had then requested the Board of SABS to conduct a full forensic investigation into this possible breach.
“I became aware that preliminary information from SABS shows a clear breach of established protocols and that the tests conducted for the Brakfontein/Tegeta coal was irregular in a number of aspects.”