Publications
Partners
Parliament’s public enterprises committee is considering an urgent resolution to halt all questionable contracts between state-owned enterprises and companies implicated in the so-called capture of the state.
This follows a proposal by Economic Freedom Fighters’ chief whip Floyd Shivambu who called for an immediate intervention by Parliament in the “capture” of state entities, instead of waiting until the parliamentary process is concluded.
Shivambu warned that it may be too late to wait for the conclusion of the inquiry as the illegality at state-owned enterprises – especially at Eskom – was ongoing. It was not helping that law enforcement agencies were moving at a slow pace in dealing with the matter, said Shivambu.
The slow wheels of the criminal justice system have come under the spotlight in this process. MPs voiced shock when a former Trillian executive revealed that neither the Hawks nor the National Prosecuting Authority had been in contact with her.
This was despite the fact she was a whistleblower who was also interviewed by former public protector Thuli Madonsela in her state of capture investigation.
Speaking at the end of Wednesday’s session of the ongoing parliamentary inquiry after MPs heard details of how Eskom provided finance to the Gupta-owned Tegeta to purchase a flailing Optimum coal mine in April last year, Shivambu said: “When we raise these, when you go to the police, when you go to the national prosecuting authority, they say ‘no, we are going to work on it’.
“The Hawks say they are investigating it in a broader context, let’s wait for a commission of inquiry; but this is illegality that is ongoing now. Tegeta is still a recipient of millions of rands from Eskom as we speak which is directly benefiting the same people who claim they have disposed of the company,” he said.
He later told City Press that the committee had to table a preliminary report to the National Assembly which conclusively recommended that “all illegal contracts” should be discontinued, particularly the Tegeta coal supply tender.
This would also be implementing the public protector’s remedial action, which is not under judicial review, he said.
“We should also conclusively recommend that all the Gupta appointees in the boards of state-owned companies should be suspended and we should constitute a multi-departmental team to openly deal with all major procurement because while we are busy talking, these people are looting,” he said.
Shivambu argued that the implications of the so-called ongoing crime was that ordinary people were paying for it as Eskom was now asking for 20% increase on tariffs.
“I don’t think our hands are completely tied,” he added. The committee agreed. In a press statement issued late yesterday, it stated that it would seek guidance from Parliament legal services on whether it may be able to table preliminary findings in this regard.
Former Optimum Coal Holdings’ business rescue practitioner Piers Marsden had earlier told MPs about how Eskom came to the financial rescue of Tegeta, a company partly owned by Oakbay and by Duduzane Zuma, to ensure that it could purchase Optimum coal mine.
Tegeta has since been sold to Swiss-based Charles King SA for R2.97bn.
While the story has been previously reported in the media, MPs appeared spellbound by the details of how on the morning of April 11 2016, Tegeta needed an extra R600m to purchase Optimum and after being rejected by three banks, senior Eskom officials met that same night and approved a prepayment of R586m for Tegeta.
Three days later, the money had not only been paid over to Tegeta but the company had also managed to buy the coal mine.
Marsden told MPs that he reported this anomaly to the directorate of priority crime investigation [the Hawks] in July last year and with the exception of being invited to depose of an affidavit, he heard from the unit for the first time this week as he prepared to appear before the parliamentary inquiry.
MPs are on a mission to get sufficient evidence to prove the hypothesis of state capture is a fact. The inquiry continues tomorrow.
 |
| ||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
