Civil rights organisation AfriForum has served a public access to information (PAIA) application on Eskom, demanding information on active contracts that the national power provider currently has with various service providers, including coal suppliers and transport companies that transport the coal.
According to AfriForum, the government’s record of managing State-owned companies leaves much to be desired.
“State-owned companies have now become synonymous with corruption and mismanagement and we would not be surprised if the handing out of contracts to incompetent service providers, with political ties, is one of the major contributing factors to the country’s load-shedding crisis,” said AfriForum local government affairs manager Morné Mostert.
He said the information AfriForum sought to obtain with the PAIA application would enable the civil rights organisation to take further action against potentially corrupt and incompetent officials and service providers.
“Despite load-shedding, Eskom as a State entity should not keep South Africa in the dark about how it distributes contracts and tenders,” Mostert said.