JOHANNESBURG – Eskom on Sunday dismissed reports that findings have been made against the parastatal, insisting it continues to cooperate with the National Treasury on its investigations of Eskom coal contracts.
“Contrary to the allegations made by the Sunday Times today [Sunday], the National Treasury has not issued any conclusive findings against Eskom on any of these contracts,” Eskom said in a statement.
“Through our normal interactions with the National Treasury, Eskom has repeatedly provided information to the National Treasury and where additional time is required has informed the National Treasury that some of the additional information that it had requested would only be supplied after board approval.”
The latest correspondence Eskom had received from Treasury was on August 17, in which Treasury supported the extension of the coal supply contract for the Komati Power Station.
“In approving the extension, the National Treasury stated that the reason provided for the extension is that there is a need for continuous supply of coal to Komati as well as the utilisation of the stockyard at Koornfontein premises to supplement the coal stockyard at Komati. ‘The National Treasury supports the extension of this contract’,” Eskom said.
The Koornfontein Mine is owned by Tegeta Resources and Exploration, which is owned by the politically-connected Gupta family.
“Eskom disputes that it has received out of specification coal worth more than R134-million from Tegeta, and we have provided the documentation to that effect to the National Treasury.
“In addition, the department of water and sanitation issued Tegeta with a water use licence on December 22, 2014. The spurious allegations by the Sunday Times, which are being continuously regurgitated, are therefore wholly incorrect, mischievous, and misleading,” Eskom said.