South Africa’s Minister for Public Enterprises Pravin Gordhan has stated that despite the progress made to improve operations at Eskom, corruption remained pervasive.
According to him, the new board and executives of Eskom are turning the tide but even after the state capture years, there was still too much rot.
He said this when he appeared before Parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA) on Tuesday for a progress update on recommendations made by the committee following visits to Eskom power stations in 2019.
SCOPA on Tuesday heard of steady progress being made to stablise operations at Eskom’s power stations, including Tutuka, Medupi and Kusile.
But Gordhan said that rooting out corruption within Eskom – and the companies it did business with – remained a challenge.
“There seems to be no limit to the greed that permeates that whole ecosystem.”
Gordhan said that the culture of corruption and this way of doing business would continue for as long as there’s a lack of consequences.
“Corruption is going to carry on unless law enforcement and the prosecuting authority put the real ringleaders behind bars.”
Eskom’s executives say they are aiming to improve the energy availability factor to 65% by March.
It’s currently hovering just below 60%.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com
