Eskom disrespects Parliament by flaking on SCOPA meeting at the last minute

26 August 2020

Today, the Eskom board and officials were meant to appear before the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA) to brief the Committee on various matters including the 80 disciplinary cases handed over to law enforcement agencies, and to report on contracts that resulted in an overpayment of R4 billion to various companies.

However, at 8:25, 90 minutes before the meeting was meant to commence, the Eskom board Chairperson, Professor MalegapuruMakgoba sent a WhatsApp message to the Chairperson of SCOPA informing him that he was unavailable due to another meeting which clashed with the scheduled SCOPA meeting. This resulted in the SCOPA meeting being postponed to next week so that the briefing can take place with the presence of the Eskom Chairperson.

The meeting was supposed to be part of Eskom’s regular updates to SCOPA. However, Makgoba’s lax attitude is disconcerting in an environment that sees further loadshedding, which has the effect of slowing economic growth in the very time when the country most needs it, and questions being raised about the future of energy generation in the country.

Given that in January, shortly after Makgoba's appointment, the Department of Public Enterprises stated that his appointment was consistent with the government’s commitment to good governance and  to the stability of the power utility - it is unfortunate that Makgoba did not see fit to report to the parliamentary committee dedicated to overseeing public accounts - particularly at a time when the blatant overspending, inflated contracts and inability of Eskom to maintain a proper power supply is so critical to the country and the fiscus.

If Eskom is to succeed in overcoming its challenges, it requires a board Chairperson who is committed to the job, is not acting on an interim basis, who understands the need for oversight and can manage his diary so that he does not send apologies to Parliamentary committees 90 minutes before they commence.

Eskom’s carefree behavior towards Parliament is unacceptable. We urge the board to get its house in order so that Parliament can continue with its oversight role.

Issued by Benedicta Van Minnen, DA Member of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts, 26 August 2020