Brown slams ‘Eskom’s lies’

Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown, pictured, yesterday told MPs she had received a report from Eskom about its dealings with Trillian and McKinsey which she demanded after it emerged that the power utility had lied to parliament, but made plain that she would not act against the leadership of parastatals on the basis of leaked e-mails.

Brown told parliament’s portfolio committee on public enterprises she received Eskom’s report on Tuesday evening, after several delays when the company failed to provide sufficient clarity, and would ask her department’s legal department to scrutinise it.

She said she deplored Eskom’s misrepresentation about payments to Trillian, a company tied to the Gupta business empire, saying: “I regard Eskom’s lies as an assault on our democratic system.”

Brown then faced questions from MPs, including former finance minister Pravin Gordhan, about ensuring the independence of the boards of state-owned enterprises and dealing with a wealth of allegations that have emerged about parastatals being milked by politically-connected business people.

Gordhan noted that in the case of Eskom, these were not limited to Trillian, which is reported to have received R1.6 billion from Eskom for no clear benefit after it was brought in by McKinsey as an empowerment partner.

“Is she going to equally reprimand Eskom for Tegeta and other misdemeanours?” he asked, noting that he was using that term euphemistically. Gordhan was referring to findings by former public protector Thuli Madonsela that Eskom had bent over backwards to give a lucrative coal contract to Tegeta Exploration, which is owned by the Gupta family. – ANA