The Democratic Alliance has vowed to defend a "laughable" R20-million defamation suit leveled at it by Eskom over claims of corruption the party made against the energy parastatal.
Eskom announced on Wednesday that it had lodged papers in the Western Cape High Court against the DA‚ "for wrongful and defamatory actions by the party against the company and its Interim Group Chief Executive Matshela Koko".
This was in response to an article published on the DA’s website on 30 January titled‚ "DA to PAIA R27 million Eskom report".
The article relates to a report by global law firm Dentons the party believes contains damning information about corruption within Eskom.
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A statement from Eskom quoted Interim Chief Executive of Eskom Matshela Koko as saying‚ "It has become a hobby of some organisations to publicly cast aspersions on people and throw wild accusations without facts‚ without any regard for people’s reputations".
"We are fortunate that we live in a country where law still reigns supreme. We are therefore seeking the court’s protection from abuse of power‚ cheap politicking and public grandstanding that has been at the centre of the Democratic Alliance’s public campaign against Eskom.
"Our position on the Dentons report is a matter of public record and we are open to engage political parties in Parliament as required by the law.” But DA MP and Shadow Minister of Public Enterprises‚ Natasha Mazzone‚ wasted no time in hitting back‚ saying the party had already filed its intention to defend the action.
"The fact that Mr Koko is seeking R20 million from the DA is laughable. The DA will not be intimidated and will not back down."
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Mazzone added that the court action would "no doubt be funded by the South African taxpayer and therefore the DA will also be submitting parliamentary questions to expose how much this litigation will cost".
She said the the party believed the comments it made were fair‚ "and made in relation to the Dentons report which is publically acknowledged to allegedly contain damning information on widespread corruption within the State-owned Entity".
She said the DA has tried to access the full‚ uncensored version of the report and had submitted an application in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) to gain access to the report‚ yet‚ to date‚ only redacted versions had been released.
"The report cost South Africans R27 million and we all deserve to know what the uncensored version contains. It is hoped that during this process‚ the full report‚ will be released."
- TMG Digital
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