DA to Take Legal Action After Treasury Exempts Eskom From Disclosing Wasteful and Irregular Expenditure

• The South African Treasury has sparked controversy by entirely exempting Eskom from disclosing irregular and wasteful expenditure
• The Democratic Alliance plans to challenge the move legally and has demanded the exemption be fully withdrawn.
• The opposition party says that the exemption proves the embattled power utility has something to hide

CAPE TOWN - The Democratic Alliance has decided to challenge Treasury's decision to exempt Eskom from disclosing its wasteful, irregular and fruitless expenditure.

The opposition party's spokesperson for finance, Dion George, said on Tuesday, 4 April that the party's lawyers will meet to discuss the plan to lodge a legal challenge.

The DA's challenge stems from the party's distrust of Treasury's intentions behind granting the exemption, stating it showed that the power utility had something to hide.

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The party has called for the exemption to be withdrawn in a bid to foster transparency.

Eskom says exemption will help power utility clean up its finances

The power utility has a different view. Speaking to SABC News, Eskom CFO Martin Buys said that the move by Treasury would help the power utility to avoid a qualified audit, thereby allowing it to secure loans.

Buys added that the exemption will give Eskom the opportunity to clean itself up for three financial years, TimesLIVE reported.

South Africans angered by Eskom exemption saga

Below are some comments:

@sheraaz_hassan asked:

"My problems with the DA leadership aside, can someone sue to get these exemptions revoked?"

@lootgous demanded:

"Yes! #WeThePeople demand this exemption be withdrawn as Eskom is clearly hiding crucial financial irregularities."

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@mypsychedelics claimed:

"To be fair, disclosure has done nothing to stop corruption in the first place."

@JayBean6869 said:

"We need to refuse to pay our taxes. All citizens must stand together on this violation of our rights."

@L_Chappi exclaimed:

"Shocking. This needs a judicial review urgently. DO SOMETHING."

@GlenRhodes6 speculated

"This is how the ANC gets away with all these schemes."

André de Ruyter to meet with Parliament watchdog to discuss corruption at Eskom, SA worried about his safety

In an Eskom-related story, Briefly News reported that ex-Eskom CEO André de Ruyter agreed to go to Parliament to discuss corruption at the power utility with the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa).

The Parliamentary watchdog's chair, Mkhuleko Hlengwa, announced on Thursday, 30 March, that he received a response to an invite issued on 17 March that De Ruyter would appear before Scopa.

The former CEO agreed that he would present a written submission on allegations of corruption he made before leaving the ailing power utility. De Ruyter also left it up to Scopa to decide when he should appear before the committee.

Source: Briefly News