The African National Congress (ANC) Study Group on SCOPA says it takes strong exception to “the unbecoming conduct of Ms. Busisiwe Mavuso and commends the Eskom Board for distancing itself from her unruly behaviour”.
Eskom board member Busisiwe Mavuso ruffled feathers on Friday when she argued with the chairperson of Parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa), Mkhuleko Hlengwa, before storming out of the meeting.
The Certified Chartered Accountant refused to take responsibility for Eskom’s endless woes and instead blamed the ANC-led government.
Mavuso, who is the Chief Executive Officer of Business Leadership South Africa and a Board Member of Eskom and Business Unity SA, said: “We have been brought in to clean it up, but we are not going to be the fall guy for the R300 and whatever billion of Medupi and Kusile that have still not been completed … we are doing our best … to try … finalise those projects.”
She blamed the “mess” at Eskom squarely on the ANC-led government, something which the chairperson objected to saying SCOPA was not going to be drawn into battles with political parties.
Commenting on the matter, the ANC Study Group, which described Mavuso’s behaviour as “belligerent”, said it “applauds and commends the calm manner of the SCOPA Chair Mr. Mkhuleko Hlengwa in the midst of provocation and his resoluteness in steering the ship well in the turbulent waters the conduct of Ms. Mavuso was pandering to at the meeting before her unceremonious exit”.
The ANC Study Group said “the authority of the State cannot be undermined by people” responsible for turning Eskom around after years of load-shedding.
The core function of the ANC Study Group is political work on the legislative programme before the Committee, political oversight in respect to matters coming before it, and formulating party policy for relevant focus areas.
At the weekend, the ANC Study Group said it agrees with the Department of Energy’s analysis “that it was unfortunate that Ms. Mavuso brought party political issues in a process where SCOPA, as a Committee of Parliament, was exercising its oversight responsibilities”.
The ANC Study Group added: “The unwarranted, unprovoked utterances by Ms. Mavuso defy logic and raise deep concerns about the quality of Board members appointed to State-owned entities.”
The ANC Study Group said it was important to note that since the 2019 oversight visit to Eskom, 23 recommendations were made by the SCOPA on the turnaround strategy for the struggling power utility.
However, only nine recommendations have been carried out and 14 remain outstanding.
