The Freedom Front Plus will be asking the Public Protector to investigate the management and financial controls of the last couple of years. This follows after the revelation of Mr. Ted Blom, a former employee of Eskom about the corruption in Eskom. According to media reports Mr. Blom testified at the Nersa hearings on Friday (2010-01-29) about Eskom’s irregular actions which they hide from the public and authorities.

The Freedom Front Plus had also earlier last month, during the party’s submission to Nersa pointed out irregularities in Eskom’s own financial statements. Adv. Anton Alberts, the FF Plus’ parliamentary spokesperson on Energy, said that the party’s own research into the financial reports of Eskom found that Eskom earns an income of R5,5 billion from 4 223 708 households annually. That boils down to every household paying an average of R1 302 annually (R109 per month) for electricity. “Given the actual invoiced amounts demanded from households in a city such as Johannesburg or Pretoria, which amounts to approximately R500 to R1000 a month, the question arises as to what had become of the extra income in the financial reports of Eskom. It appears as if Eskom under-reports its actual income from households,” Adv. Alberts says.

The FF Plus is of the opinion that the extent of the management problems which Eskom experienced and which resulted in the electricity crisis, the unheard of escalation in costs for the construction of the Kusile and Medupi power plants and the ANC’s shareholding in Hitachi, through which the party gains financial advantages in the production of Eskom, has brought about the fact that constitutional mechanisms now has to be used to protect the public’s interest. The party will therefore be approaching the Public Protector to request an investigation into the financial management of Eskom.

ADV. ANTON ALBERTS
083 950 9272