COSATU welcomes SAP’s agreement to repay Eskom R500 million

25 March 2024

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) welcomes SAP’s agreement to repay Eskom R500 million within seven days over corrupt contracts it was alleged to have been implicated in at Eskom.  This forms part of a R2.2 billion fine SAP has agreed to pay for its role in the state capture of Eskom, Transnet, the City of Joburg and the Department of Water and Sanitation.

We urge Treasury to allocate a portion of these recovered public funds to the National Prosecuting Authority to enable it to ramp up the war against crime and corruption and bring those implicated to court. 

Whilst we welcome this progress, it is critical that the NPA pursue criminal charges against those at SPA and other private sector companies for their role in the state capture project that unleashed so much damage to Eskom, the state, workers and the economy.

This is a positive sign that President Cyril Ramaphosa’s efforts to not only cleanse, renew and rebuild the African National Congress, but indeed government, State-Owned Enterprises and we hope municipalities, is gaining steam. 

COSATU is pleased that government is slowly but surely tackling those involved in crime and corruption, no matter how senior the positions they have occupied, not only the in the ANC, Eskom, Parliament but also the private sector. 

Society is naturally angered by the damage corruption has inflicted upon the nation but we must commend government on progress being made.  The fact that a former Secretary-General of the ANC, a previous head of state, sitting Members of Parliament and powerful persons in the private sector have been removed from positions of power, dragged kicking and screaming to court and being squeezed of their illegally acquired assets is a sign that the days of impunity and lawlessness are slowly but surely coming to an end.

We hope that those perennial critics of all that happens in South Africa are taking note.

Issued by Matthew Parks, Acting National Spokesperson & Parliamentary Coordinator, 26 March 2024