By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The ANC alliance partner Cosatu says National Treasury’s decision to grant Eskom an exemption from disclosing irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure in its financial statements is reckless .
According to a notice in the government gazette by Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana, Eskom will be exempt from disclosing its expenses for three years.
The expenses will now be reported in its annual report.
The announcement received a backlash from the public including, political parties and civil society movements.
Cosatu spokesperson Sizwe Pamla says the decision is a devoid of any common sense, good governance, or legal rationale.
“The federation rejects it with the utter contempt it deserves and demands its immediate cancellation. We find it staggering and alarming that the people who are entrusted with managing the national resources are indulging these two poster boys (Eskom and Transnet) of mismanagement, who are known for flouting processes and failing to comply with regulations and procedures.
“It is scandalous that the same organisation with the ethical responsibility to see to it that public money is used for its designated purposes and spent within the guidelines of existing legislation across the state is trying to justify this scandalous behaviour.”
The federation says the decision proves government is not ready to root out corruption.
“This is the clearest sign that the sixth administration has given up on the fight against corruption and is not prepared to implement the state capture commission recommendations. This reckless decision is tantamount to them facilitating another round of state capture.”
Godongwana will on Wednesday brief Parliament on the reasons why he granted Eskom an exemption from aspects of the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA).
Meanwhile DA spokesperson on finance Dion George said on Tuesday that the party had briefed its legal team to look into the legalities of the exemption. However, a final decision has not yet been taken on whether the party will take the matter to court.
“I have not taken the final decision yet as we have decided to wait for the briefing by Minister Godongwana. I also spoke to him today and I get the problem they are trying to deal with. But I don’t think we can accept it. There has to be transparency and we have to fight for it.”