I have the responsibility to protect Scopa’s integrity: Mkhuleko Hlengwa

Parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) chairperson, Mkhuleko Hlengwa, says although he agrees with Eskom Board member Busisiwe Mavuso, he has the responsibility to protect the committee’s integrity.

There was a heated exchange between Hlengwa and Mavuso during Scopa’s meeting with Eskom management and Board members last week.

Mavuso walked out of the meeting after saying that the  African National Congress (ANC) was to blame for the dilapidated state of Eskom.

Heated argument erupts during SCOPA’s oversight visit to Eskom

Hlengwa says it is not the mandate of the committee to discuss the politics of the governing ANC.

“The ANC mess is not in dispute, but the politicking of it is not the purview of the committee. Let me also hasten to say, it could have been very easy for me as an Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) MP to jump on to the anti-ANC outlook which was clearly loud. Because whilst I agree with it, but I must also maintain the fact that the committee as a multi-party committee must not engage in the partisan politics in the manner that it did,” says Hlengwa.

Below is the full interview with Mkhuleko Hlengwa:

Unrepentant Mavuso stands by her comments

Eskom Board member Busisiwe Mavuso has remained unrepentant, saying she stands by her remarks.

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,” says Mavuso.

Below is the full interview with Busisiwe Mavuso: