Chairperson of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa), Mkhuleko Hlengwa, has apologised to Eskom board member Busisiwe Mavuso for mishandling her contribution during a parliamentary inquiry into Eskom.
During the meeting, Hlengwa came under fire and got into a heated argument with Mavuso. Mavuso chose to leave the meeting after the argument.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) has called on National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula to investigate Hlengwa’s conduct.
Former SCOPA chair Themba Godi has reiterated that Hlengwa could have handled this matter better.
“To deny her the opportunity to explain herself denies those of us who are spectating from the sidelines from understanding whether the challenges at Eskom are purely the results of administrative or they are the results or they are indeed political issues. Bearing in mind that this was not the first time she raised the issue of political interference in the work of Ekom. I must say that exchange was very unfortunate to put it diplomatically because – Yes meetings do get heated but the chairperson must be the one who always tries and calm things down then it became him who was embroiled in that situation was bound to get out of hand.”
Scopa Chair Mkhuleko Hlengwa apologises to Eskom’s Mavuso:
Mavuso stands by her remarks
Mavuso remained unrepentant this week, saying she stands by her remarks, saying 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.
Heated exchange between Scopa chair and Eskom Board member still drawing attention: Themba Godi
