SACP welcomes steps to recover funds stolen from Eskom, calls for more action

4 August 2020

The South African Communist Party welcomes the step taken by Eskom and the Special Investigating Unit ‘to recover funds from former Eskom executives, former Board members, members of the Gupta family and their associates, and others’. The announcement was made by Eskom on Monday 3 August 2020.

‘The funds were lost in a concerted effort corruptly to divert financial resources from Eskom, to improperly and illegally benefit the Gupta family and entities controlled by the said family and their associates during their 2015-16 acquisition of the operations of Optimum Coal Holdings Limited (OCH)’, said Eskom in its statement announcing the step to recover ‘approximately R3.8 billion in funds illegally diverted from Eskom to help the Gupta family and its associates to acquire the operations of OCH’.

The recovery is a step in the right direction. However, the SACP calls upon relevant law enforcement agencies to arrest those implicated in looting at Eskom, including the directors, executives and staff of foreign-controlled multinational corporations who were involved in the theft and received the proceeds of the loot. The SACP wants to see a successful prosecution that results in those found guilty wearing orange overalls. Assets and funds owned by such individuals that are associated with the looting, must be retrieved by the Asset Forfeiture Unit.

Issued by Alex Mohubetswane Mashilo, Central Committee Member for Media & Communications, SACP, 4 August 2020