Cape Town - Amid the outcry over Eskom’s exemption from reporting on wasteful, fruitless and irregular expenditure in its annual financial statements, Dear South Africa (DearSA) has called on citizens to have their say through a participation process.
The not-for-profit platform said all public comments would be delivered to Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana. DearSA founder Rob Hutchinson said that public pressure created impact, and people’s voices were a powerful influence on the direction of democracy.
“The Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) requires Eskom to keep full and proper records of its financial affairs and publish annual reports and financial statements.
“The act forces Eskom to disclose any material losses through criminal conduct.
“This includes any irregular expenditure and fruitless and wasteful expenditure that occurred during the financial year.”
Hutchinson said that the exemption had removed the need for Eskom to play open cards about irregular expenditure and wasting money.
In a government gazette published on Friday, the Treasury granted Eskom the exemption following a request by the power utility’s board chairperson Mpho Makwana’s for an exemption and a departure from Treasury regulations.
The Treasury on Monday said: “This exemption still requires Eskom to disclose financial and non-financial information on irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure, but only in its annual report.”
The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) said the move was concerning as it threatened accountability and created opportunities for corruption and financial mismanagement.
Outa chief executive Wayne Duvenage said that exempting the power utility from complying with certain sections of the PFMA sent a clear message that the government was “not serious about transparency and accountability when it comes to Eskom’s financial management practices”.
“We are very concerned that this decision will lead to even more fruitless and wasteful expenditure, something that Eskom, our country and we, the citizens, can ill afford.
“Even if the exemptions come with conditions, how can we be sure that there will be accountability, as that was clearly lacking in the past?” asked Duvenage.
The Institute of Race Relations also cautioned Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana against allowing load shedding to be used to “smokescreen further corruption”.
Those who want to have their say through DearSA’s participation process can visit the link: dearsouthafrica. co.za/eskom-irreglar-exemption/
Cape Times