Eskom Parliament hearings confirm Zuma’s capture agenda

The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) welcomes the revelations and input provided in Parliament by Ex-Eskom Chairperson, Mr Zola Tsotsi, along with Eskom Board Chairperson, Mr Khulani Qoma and suspended head of legal at Eskom, Ms Suzanne Daniels over the past few days, which confirms our views that the extent of state capture at Eskom is deeper and more worrying than previously imagined.

The substantive input provided by people in senior positions within Eskom has once again highlighted the gross political meddling and interference by President Zuma. Our concerns are further substantiated by Minister Lynn Brown’s weak responses to questions and unreliable explanations of various developments during her tenure as the Minister of Public Enterprises. Accordingly, we are unconvinced that Minister Brown could have been kept in the dark or misled by her board during the substantive executive appointments and suspensions, without her scrutiny or prior knowledge of what was happening.

“Minister Brown’s lack of understanding and weak responses to serious developments, paints the picture of a person who had little idea of her responsibilities and the actions required of her, which essentially makes her complicit to the transgressions and an unfit candidate for the position she holds within Government,” says Wayne Duvenage, OUTA’s CEO.

The consistency and correlation of input from Mr Tsotsi, when combined with that of the Eskom Board spokesperson, Mr Qoma and from Ms Suzanne Daniels, provides a clear overview of the same narrative of a President, a Minister and numerous executive appointees aligned to a common objective to capture the State Owned Entity for purpose predetermined undue enrichment programs.

This modus operandi has been exposed with similar methodologies applied at SAA, SABC, PRASA, Transnet and other state run organisations. The common denominator in most of these incidents is President Zuma aided and abetted by the Gupta family members. The only question that requires answering today is, knowing what they now know, what will the ruling party's executive exercise sufficient moral courage to remove Jacob Zuma from their ranks, in order to stop the plundering and address the reversal of corruption within state structures.