EFF slams Godongwana for exempting Eskom from reporting expense irregularities

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) has slammed Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana’s decision to exempt Eskom from disclosing irregular and fruitless expenditure in its annual financial statements.

The special government gazette issued by Godongwana on Friday, the last day of the financial year, provides crumbling state owned entity with an exemption from Section 55 (2) (b) (i) of the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) for 2022/23 and the following two years.

Eskom results

According to interim results, a major financial loss for Eskom for six months, from 30 September 2022 to ending 31 March, would probably amount to an unbelievable R32,4 billion.

The parastatal noted that the Treasury had issued and instruction limiting the disclosure of irregular expenditure and fruitless and wasteful expenditure.

However, Eskom said all information required under the PFMA that was previously disclosed in the financial statements would be included in its integrated report.

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“Irrational, reckless and deplorable”

The EFF said the decision by Godongwana is “irrational, reckless and deplorable”.

“We are utterly shocked and displeased by the brazen arrogance of the Minister of Finance, who, by making this decision, undermines the pillars of transparency and accountability that our democracy is built upon.

“The EFF will not stand idly by while corruption festers. We will write to the chairpersons of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA), Standing Committee on Finance (SCoF), and the Portfolio Committee of Public Enterprises to seek permission from the Speaker of the National Assembly to convene an urgent joint meeting to receive a detailed report explaining the rationale behind such a nonsensical decision,” the EFF said.

Until 30 September 2022, Eskom made a profit of just R3,8 billion but even this profit was significantly lower (63.8%) than the year before when it was R10.6 billion, due to higher depreciation and amortisation expenses, as well as greater finance costs.

Black Business Council (BBC)

Meanwhile, the Black Business Council (BBC) also expressed their dissatisfaction over the “irrational” exemption.

“The BBC will seek an urgent meeting with the Minister of Finance and the Deputy President of the Republic of SA as Leader of Government Business, to sharply raise this serious anomaly,” the council said in a statement on Monday.

“Exemptions in the legislation can’t be abused and be used willy-nilly to protect non-compliance by any individual or organ of state.”

Tariff hikes

Meanwhile, South Africans have to dig even deeper into their pockets as the electricity tariff hikes kick in from 1 April.

The tariffs increased by 18.65% for standard Eskom customers and 18.49% for municipalities for the 2023/24 financial year after the National Energy Regulator (Nersa) approved the application for the ailing parastatal to hike tariff in January.

ALSO READ: Major loss on the cards again for Eskom

Additional reporting by Ina Opperman