TO: PRINT AND ELECTRONIC MEDIA HOUSES
FROM: ELIAS MONAGE
DATE: 08 May 2023
SUBJECT: BLACK BUSINESS COUNCIL STATEMENT ON THE ESKOM OFF-THE-BOOKS BLSA SPONSORED ANDRE DE RYTER INVESTIGATION
The Black Business Council (BBC) welcomes the Minister of Finance’s decision to withdraw exempting Eskom from disclosing any of its irregular expenditure and fruitless and wasteful expenditure that occurred during the financial years 2022/3/4/5.
The BBC is glad that the minister finally realised that openness, accountability, disclosures and transparency are the cornerstone of a constitutional democracy, and these will create certainty with investors and the general public.
The minister should rather focus on ensuring that Eskom and other SOEs don’t incur irregular expenditure and fruitless and wasteful expenditure in the first place by implementing effective consequence management instead of abusing exemption provisions.
The BBC is of the view that the minister, as the custodian of the PFMA and the national purse, has dealt a serious blow to the anti-corruption stand and posture of the South African government with his gazette.