African Treasury says Eskom executives blocking probe into coa

Eskom said in a statement over the weekend that the Treasury had not issued any conclusive findings against it on any of the utility’s coal contracts’ and that it was cooperating with the Treasury on its investigations of the coal contracts.

The finance department said its efforts to investigate the contracts with Eskom had met resistance from the parastatal‚ while Eskom countered that it had been cooperating.

The statement said Gordhan had escalated the issue to Eskom chairman, Ben Ngubane.

Oakbay Investments (www.OakbayInvestments.co.za) and Tegeta have noted press coverage in recent days surrounding the Company’s contracts with Eskom and coal supply from the Brakfontein mine. It also disputed Eskom’s assertion that the National Treasury had signed off on audits of the contracts.

In approving the extension, the National Treasury stated that the reason provided for the extension is that there is a need for continuous supply of coal to Komati as well as the utilisation of the stockyard at Koornfontein premises to supplement the coal stockyard at Komati.

The department has made attempts over the past four months to get information from Eskom, including a list of payments made to Tegeta and invoices received from the company between September and April.

“We want to convene a meeting between the ministries of finance, public enterprises and energy to decisively deal with this matter in a manner that promotes public confidence”, he said. “The National Treasury supports the extension of this contract”. A response was sent and Treasury came back with their first draft report requesting further information on September 15, 2015.

“We can release letters they have written to us asking for extensions”.

The electricity supplier’s spokesperson, Khulu Phasiwe, on Tuesday told Talk Radio 702 that a driver had been dispatched to deliver the “thick document” to the Treasury. The third request was received on 12 April 2016.

“I have asked Eskom‚ as soon as they have concluded the response to the 172-page document to Treasury‚ I would have sight over that report”. Eskom considered the deadline of April 30 to be unreasonable.

This was an unreasonable request. Adding to the controversy was the revelation that South Africa’s Mineral Resources Minister Mosebenzi Zwane had travelled with a delegation of Tegeta executives to visit Glencore in Switzerland to negotiate the purchase of Optimum Colliery. These responses have already been tabled and reviewed by the procurement subcommittee of the Board on 16 August 2016.

While Eskom maintains that the SA Bureau of Standards (SABS) signed off on the quality of Tegeta’s coal at the end of August previous year, SABS tests conducted since then have revealed that the coal is in fact not up to scratch.