DA continues to fight for the full, un-redacted Denton Report

9 February 2017

The DA will today submit an appeal, in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act, to gain access to the full, original and un-redacted Denton report.

It is a slap in the face of the South African public, who foot the bill for Eskom, that the Denton report released yesterday, is still heavily redacted.

What is clear from the report is that Eskom management have much to hide and explains why they have sought to keep it from the public.

Despite the report being heavily censored, it reveals shocking details of extensive abuse of public funds by the State Owned Entity (SOE), including:

- Evidence that Eskom breached the Public Finance Management Act, 1999, and in so doing “contributed to its own financial challenges”;

- Contracts, worth R30 billion, were awarded to companies which had no real standing in the industry;

- Eskom employees allegedly set up companies which were then awarded contracts from Eskom;

- Eskom executives and senior managers and their families allegedly benefitted personally from Eskom contracts; and

- Eskom failed to ensure competitive tendering processes for the delivery of coal to its power stations, which meant that the cost of delivering coal was almost half of what the coal itself cost.

The most telling line of the report states that “If management’s energies are centered on leveraging Eskom’s considerable buying power for self-interest, rather than to drive efficiencies, the notion that the tariff is not cost-effective loses credibility.”

All indications are that the high electricity tariffs, which normal South Africans have been forced to pay for, are a direct result of financial abuse by Eskom employees.

This is a shocking indictment of Eskom and how it has been run.

The DA is also considering legal action against implicated officials to ensure that they are held accountable for their gross abuse of public funds.

The DA will not rest until the full and uncensored version of the report is released. Only then can we hope to hold those responsible to account.

Issued by Natasha Mazzone, DA Shadow Minister of Public Enterprises, 9 February 2017