DA to ask Public Protector to investigate Eskom CEO’s billion rand deals to stepdaughter

The DA will be writing to the Public Protector, Advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane, requesting that she launches an investigation into Eskom CEO Matshela Koko for allegedly awarding tenders worth R1 billion to Impulse International, a company of which his step-daughter is a Director.

Impulse International was awarded 8 contracts by Eskom’s Generation unit during Koko’s tenure as the unit’s Group Executive.

Koko’s reported actions could show that he is compromised and unfit to be the head of Eskom. By claiming that he was not aware that his step-daughter was involved with Impulse International, Koko inadvertently admits that he failed in his role as the Chief Accounting officer to conduct due diligence on the company profile of a potential Eskom service provider.

This potentially means that Eskom violated State Procurement guidelines set out by Treasury to guide the acquisition of services by State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) under Koko’s stewardship.

The DA believes that this latest expose could be one of the reasons why Eskom board has been reluctant to release the Denton report.

The DA will ensure that the rot at Eskom is laid bare and all those implicated held accountable. It can never be acceptable that, while Eskom is struggling to raise capital for some of its power generation projects needed to grow our economy, its managers could be busy siphoning cash to benefit family members.

Statement issued by Natasha Mazzone MP, DA Shadow Minister of Public Enterprises, 26 March 2017