Intended legal action stops Eskom exemption

5 April 2023

AfriForum welcomes Enoch Godongwana, the Minister of Finance’s decision to temporarily withdraw the exemption granted to Eskom on how it must report on wasteful expenditure. This follows after AfriForum consulted with its legal team earlier to bring a review application so that this decision of the national treasury is set aside. The civil rights organisation’s legal team is therefore not proceeding with legal action at this stage.

This withdrawal only confirms the importance of the Public Financial Management Act and that it is essential that this Act is not circumvented. It also ensures that there is transparency with all state entities and that Eskom cannot manipulate their financial statements to make them appear better.

“AfriForum was already preparing an application to have the initial decision reviewed and our legal team is still ready to act if anything changes. AfriForum will therefore keep a close eye on the situation. We still consider this temporary withdrawal as a victory for AfriForum and communities across South Africa. The minister should instead focus on the financial reporting within Eskom and the problems that already exist with the supply chain control as well as addressing the wasteful and fruitless expenditure. The minister should try to improve the overall management of Eskom rather than trying to make clever plans to make Eskom’s image and financial statements look better,” says Morné Mostert, AfriForum’s manager for Local Government Affairs.

Mostert further says it is also a breakthrough that the state of disaster regarding the power crisis has ended today after just two months. Pres. Cyril Ramaphosa in February announced the state of disaster in his State of the Nation Address. The disaster regulations included, among other things, that certain critical infrastructure services are exempted from loadshedding.

“The lifting of the state of disaster is proof that the government succumbs to civil pressure and hopefully realises that a state of disaster is not necessary to solve the crisis,” says Mostert.

Issued by Morné Mostert, Manager: Local Government Affairs, AfriForum, 5 April 2023