DA wants Public Protector to investigate alleged Eskom nepotism

Tenders worth R1 billion was awarded to Impulse International. 

Eskom however maintains there was nothing untoward in the awarding of the contracts.

Eskom's spokesperson Khulu Phasiwe says acting CEO Matshela Koko denies most of the allegations.

"He says he was not aware until recently that his (step)daughter was a director at this company called Impulse International. Once he became aware of it, he promptly asked her to resign, and which she did sometime in August last year. Then later on Mr Koko also realised that his stepdaughter was a trustee in one of the companies dealing with this company (Impulse International) and he asked her to resign there as well," says Phasiwe.

The DA's Natasha Mazzone says Impulse International was awarded eight contracts by Eskom's Generation unit during Koko's tenure as the unit's Group Executive.

"Koko's reported actions could show that he is compromised and unfit to be the head of Eskom. By claiming that he was not aware that his stepdaughter was involved with Impulse International, Koko inadvertently admits that he failed in his role as the Chief Accounting officer to conduct due diligence on the company profile of a potential Eskom service provider," says Mazzone.

Mazzone says this potentially means that Eskom violated State Procurement guidelines set out by Treasury to guide the acquisition of services by State Owned Enterprises under Koko's stewardship.

"The DA believes that this latest exposé could be one of the reasons why the Eskom board has been reluctant to release the Denton report," says Mazzone.

Mazzone says the DA will ensure that the rot at Eskom is laid bare and all those implicated held accountable. 

"It can never be acceptable that, while Eskom is struggling to raise capital for some of its power generation projects needed to grow our economy, its managers could be busy siphoning cash to benefit family members."