National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula has approved a special joint meeting of various finance cluster committees to discuss the regulations published in the government gazette that exempt Eskom from complying with certain provisions of the Public Finance Management Act.
House Chairperson of Committees, Cedric Frolick, has confirmed that various chairpersons of standing committees in the economic clusters have requested to meet tomorrow.
Eskom has been exempted from declaring irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure where there is no criminality involved in its financial statements for three financial years.
Frolick says the joint meeting will consist of the standing committees on finance, appropriations, public accounts and the Standing Committee on the Auditor-General.
He says the request for the joint meeting follows the public outcry on the regulations published by Finance Minister Enoch Godonwana.
The meeting is expected to look at among other issues, the previous findings and concerns of the Auditor-General over Eskom’s financial accountability and status.
There is also a further concern from the various committees on the possible impact that the exemption would have on the greylisting of South Africa.
Audit scores
National Treasury’s Acting Director-General Ismail Momoniat has sought to explain the reasons behind the exemption.
Momoniat says Eskom was granted the exemption to help the power utility score better in audits.
“It’s not an exemption from them not reporting, they still have to report in their annual report, but not in their financial statements. We are doing so for this to prevent or ensure the qualification of their financial statements, but at the moment it is less likely for them to get a qualified audit for technical reasons, rather than on their own merits, compared to any other company that may be qualified.”
Concerns
Meanwhile, the Black Business Council has joined others in blasting Godongwana over this decision, labelling the move as irrational.
The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse has also slammed the decision.
More details in the report below:
-Additional reporting by Risha Maduray
