Eskom chair Mpho Makwana says board member Mteto Nyati’s published comments on empowerment were a misrepresentation of what he said.
“Mr Nyati was in our view misrepresented in terms of what he is purported to have said about BBBEE and transformation,” Makwana voluntarily told a joint meeting of parliament’s portfolio committees on public enterprises and energy on Wednesday.
“There was misrepresentation of what he actually said in the interview vs what was reported,” he said in his opening remarks, in what was his first appearance before the two committees.
Makwana was leading an Eskom delegation which appeared before the two committees to account for the country’s energy crisis and Koeberg-related issues on Wednesday.
Nyati was not present.
“We issued a statement yesterday [Tuesday] after our board engagements, just clarifying and setting the record straight in terms of what we believe he was saying in that interview,” said Makwana.
But his defence of Nyati didn’t go unchallenged, with at least one MP, the ANC’s Mikateko Mahlaule, saying it was difficult to believe Nyati's views were misrepresented as he had previously made similar comments at an event in UKZN about 2018 or 2019. Mahlaule said the event “did not end well” because of those views.
He asked Makwana “to clear the air” and give an accurate account of what Nyati said. Other MPs were interested in the board’s position on the matter.
In response, Makwana said the Sunday Times interview was meant to be about the role of the board’s new business operations performance committee (BOPC) which Nyati chairs. In the process (of the interview) there was a conversation about global suppliers and challenges that may arise in terms of localisation and procurement requirements.
Makwana said the account Nyati gave to the board and which the board was comfortable with, was that there was going to be a need to balance the requirement for localisation with the fact that there will be global original equipment manufacturers who may not have BEE credentials or (are not) alive to the requirements of SA’s policy framework.
EFF MP Phiwaba Madokwe was still not convinced, asking how the board arrived at the conclusion that Nyati had been misrepresented.
“I think we are owed a much better explanation because it’s no longer assertions of one person, the board has owned that and concluded the person was misrepresented.”
Makwana asked to submit a response in writing in terms of what Nyati had said.
He reiterated the board’s position on procurement, saying that as a state-owned entity Eskom embraces the Preferential Procurement Policy Framework Act (PPPFA) and all government policies aimed at transforming the SA economy to deal with the pervasive conditions of inequality and socioeconomic imbalance.
“What we do and will always do as a board is to be guided by the shareholder mandate that we signed on to in line with our shareholder compact which expects us to ensure that we do what we do but ensure that the majority of South Africans benefit substantially from the mainstream economy. That is our mandate and that’s what the board constantly commits [to ensuring],” said Makwana.
“As we stand as a board, those are the key principles. We don’t have a mandate from our shareholder to deviate from the existing government frameworks and government policy on transforming the economy, on BBBEE and the need to transform supply chains to ensure that they represent the aspirations for the majority of South Africans to play meaningfully in the economy of SA,” he said.
The Sunday Times quoted Nyati as having said empowerment rules that hamper Eskom’s performance will have to go if there’s to be any chance of ending South Africa’s deepening electricity crisis.
“It’s our responsibility as the board to remove any blockages or challenges in the way of the management team so they can focus on doing what they know best,” Nyati was quoted as saying.
He told the newspaper that one of the areas the BOPC — which has been working closely with Eskom management — will be “getting involved in” is procurement.
“Procurement rules are not as agile as they should be, including rules which say you cannot use suppliers that are not local. When the supplier of equipment is an international company ... you have to use middlemen to satisfy the localisation rule.
“There’s no place for those kinds of practices now. We need to remove costs from the equation. We need to make sure we are connecting directly with the people who have the knowledge that will get us out of this crisis as soon as possible.”
Nyati was also quoted as saying internal corruption was largely at the back of empowerment policies that promote local small businesses and that such policies will need to be reviewed and changed where appropriate.
The Black Business Council and the EFF are among organisations that have criticised Nyati for his remarks.
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