The Democratic Alliance (DA) welcomes the High Court order setting aside a contract worth R3.7 billion between the formerly Gupta-owned mining group, Tegeta Exploration and Resources and state power utility, Eskom.
The court order further grants the Special Investigative Unit (SIU) leave to institute legal proceedings.
The DA expects that the Gupta-aligned board, which was appointed by then Public Enterprises Minister, Lynne Brown, led by Ben Ngubane and included former Eskom chief executive, Brian Molefe, will be charged accordingly. Six of the board’s eight members had links to the Guptas or were their business partners.
It is high time that those responsible for the wholesale theft at Eskom and other state- owned enterprises (SOE) were brought to book.
While we applaud the action by the SIU that has led to the court’s finding, the DA is adamant that this,however, cannot simply be one example pursued to appease the nation’s expectations and desire for probity.
The DA will continue to call for full public disclosure of all significant contracts entered into with our SOEs in order that more criminals be brought to book.