ANC must disinvest stake in Eskom power stations

The ANC ought to disinvest its stake in the company contracted to help build two new Eskom power stations as it is a clear conflation between party and state with the ANC standing to benefit from a deal worth nearly six billion rand at the public's expense.

ANC Secretary General Gwede Mantashe this week admitted (see here) that the party still owns a 25 percent share in Hitachi South Africa after ANC Treasurer Matthews Phosa promised to take steps to disinvest the party's interest last year.

Mr Mantashe's claim that there's nothing wrong with the ANC's interest in the company shows his disregard for the interests of a democratic society and the constitutional principles of accountability and transparency.

With the ANC's stake in Hitachi it is only reasonable to believe that steep electricity price increases by Eskom will benefit the ANC's party coffers, which essentially makes a mockery of the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) hearings aimed at ensuring public input on Eskom's tariff hike application.

Furthermore - if the ANC can own shares in companies that provide services to parastatals, then the ANC government's so-called developmental state model boils down to naked cronyism and a systematic exploitation of South Africans. There is no incentive for government to save money in this model - on the contrary, as South Africans pay more money to parastatals such as the SABC and Eskom, the ANC only stands to make more money.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) will be taking this matter further with the Minister of Energy to ensure that the crisis at the electricity utility be resolved to the benefit of all South Africans and not to the benefit of those responsible for it in the first place.

Statement issued by Sej Motau, MP, Democratic Alliance shadow minister of energy, January 20 2010

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