Eskom’s Busisiwe Mavuso stands by her remarks

Eskom board member Busisiwe Mavuso has remained unrepentant, saying she stands by her remarks after the much-publicised meeting between the power utility’s board and Parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa).

Following a war of words with Scopa chairperson Mkuleko Hlengwa, Mavuso walked out of the meeting after claiming that the African National Congress (ANC) was to blame for Eskom’s challenges.

Mavuso says the present board cannot be held accountable for things that went wrong at Eskom before its tenure.

“And I submit that yes we must and should be held accountable for the decisions that we have made during our tenure, but unfortunately there are things that we can not answer to, and not because we don’t want to but because they pre-date this board and that is a fact.”

“So there is no way I can answer to Medupi and Kusile without referring to the history. So you see you do not ask questions if you don’t want to hear the answer, and he didn’t want to hear my answer then he shouldn’t have gone into that meeting and framed the meeting the way he framed it,” explains Mavuso.

A video posted online appears to show Mavuso walking out of a boardroom.

Below is the full interview with Busisiwe Mavuso:

Meanwhile, the Department of Public Enterprises has issued a statement strongly condemning Mavuso’s comments.

The department has described Mavuso’s comments as regrettable and her conduct unbecoming of a Board member of Eskom.

Public Enterprises says in a statement that it is unfortunate that Mavuso brought party political issues into the oversight meeting and it is giving the matter serious consideration.

‘ANC should take responsibility’

Economist Lumkile Mondi has agreed with Mavuso’s remarks that the ANC is to blame for the current dilapidated state of Eskom. Mondi says when former President Jacob Zuma took power in 2009, he reversed the steps that the initial ANC-led government had taken to address Eskom’s challenges.

Mondi says the ANC should take responsibility for the maladministration of state-owned entities including Eskom.

“So the problems that we have today at Eskom is at first the incapability of the ANC to take hard decisions following the white paper in 1998. Secondly, the destruction of institutions as well as prosecuting capabilities made to repurpose state institutions for private gain under Zuma, under the watch of the ANC in parliament. So we cannot expect today’s problems to be put on Andre De Ruyter or even at the board.”

VIDEO | Heated argument erupts during SCOPA’s oversight visit to Eskom: