Eskom backtracks on report
Eskom report released only for a selected few for now
ESKOM yesterday flip-flopped on its promise to release the Dentos report commissioned to probe its near collapse – a situation which led to massive power cuts that cost the economy billions in 2008.
The two-year old report cost Eskom more than R20 million and was meant to be released for public consumption yesterday.
In a bizarre twist, what was supposed to be a media briefing to release the report turned into a defensive exercise by Eskom chairman Ben Ngubane that included a lowdown on his curriculum vitae.
Ngubane could not furnish reasons why the report could not be made public, but said it would be made available to four parties who had applied for access to it through the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA).
He said the board had decided against releasing the report as it did not want to further dampen staff morale, arguing that any other person who wanted access to it must do so via the PAIA process.
“The report affects a National Key point, and as a responsible board we must be responsible in how we disseminate the report,” charged Ngubane.
“By law people who want access to the report have to apply to it as the PAIA act stipulates.”
The report was commissioned to Dentos in 2015, following alleged operational deficiencies that led to the economy losing billions of rand in production.
At the time, Eskom suspended former chief executive Tshediso Matona, along with three other senior executives – finance director Tsholofelo Molefe; head of group capital Dan Marokane; and executive for technology and commercial Matshela Koko.
Matona, Molefe and Morokane fought their suspensions and were subsequently paid handshakes to leave the utility, while Koko held on until his suspension was lifted a few months later.
Dentos: Ngubane could not say why the report could not be made public
He is currently the utility’s interim chief executive following Brian Molefe’s abrupt resignation last year in the wake of the Public Protector report on state capture.
The utility said the Dentons findings identified problems that it was already aware of.
Ngubane dismissed claims that the investigations were halted after they began to uncover more rot into the runnings at Eskom.
“We accepted that the findings contained in the report were sufficient to allow Eskom to move forward,” he said.
Speculation was rife that the report, which was meant to be released yesterday, would be a watered-down version.
However, Ngubane denied this and said all affected parties needed to be given an opportunity to peruse it first.
“At the time of completion of the report in July 2015, the board considered that releasing the report immediately would have exerted aggravated pressure on the already stressed business and sagging staff morale. We made a decision to rather use the report to turn around the fortunes of Eskom,” Ngubane said.
Dentons managing director Noor Kapdi said the Eskom board felt satisfied with the contents of the preliminary and saw no need for it to dig further.
“When we presented the draft-preliminary report, the Eskom board was of the view that the information in that report realised it’s their objectives when it relates to the terms of reference. We had suggested there were still areas that needed further investigation,” Kapdi said.
Energy analyst Chris Yelland said the utility had pushed itself into a tight corner in trying to explain the two-year delay to release a report that was completed in three months.
“Eskom is cowering under political pressure to release the report as various interested parties had already used PAIA to access it. The utility realised it could not keep the contents of the report to itself anymore. I see today’s media briefing as a pre-emptive move by Eskom,” Yelland said.