Five parliamentary committees want answers about Eskom exemption

Five parliamentary committees want to interrogate the National Treasury’s decision to exempt Eskom from declaring fruitless, wasteful and irregular expenditure for the next three years.

TimesLIVE has established that the news of the exemption jolted parliamentarians to seek urgent meetings with the Treasury this week.

On realising that a number of committees had an interest in the matter, it was decided to convene a joint meeting of the interested committees, according to parliament insiders.

Parliament is on Easter recess and its committees have to apply for special permission to hold meetings during this period.

The joint meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, according to sources.

“We just need to know what informed this decision,” said a source who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The meeting will comprise:

• the public accounts watchdog (Scopa);
• the standing committee on finance;
• the standing committee on appropriations;
• the standing committee on the auditor-general; and
• the portfolio committee on public enterprises.

TimesLIVE reported that a notice in the Government Gazette of March 31 stated Eskom would be exempt from having to disclose in its annual reports for three years irregular, fruitless or wasteful expenditure, starting from the financial year that ended in March. 

The utility said it had been engaging stakeholders from the Treasury and the department of public enterprises for several months on its proposal to seek the minister’s approval for the exemption and departure application. 

With the exemption, irregular, fruitless and wasteful spending will be reported in Eskom’s annual report rather than in its annual financial statements.

The integrated report is tabled by the minister of public enterprises, Pravin Gordhan, in parliament. 

Eskom pledged to respect and co-operate with supervisory authorities, including the minister of public enterprises as its executive authority, the Treasury, the auditor-general, parliament and other relevant ministries. 

Trade unions, NGOs, business organisations and political parties criticised the Treasury’s decision to grant the exemption to Eskom.

The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) also voiced its concern, saying it fears the exemption creates opportunities for corruption and/or financial mismanagement, which would harm the public interest. Given the government’s history of excessive corruption and maladministration, there is an extremely high level of mistrust in government, it said. 

TimesLIVE

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