Parliament calls first witnesses for Eskom inquiry

Cape Town – Parliament’s inquiry into Eskom is set to begin next Tuesday, with the first witnesses set to give evidence, it announced on Wednesday.

“The Portfolio Committee on Public Enterprises today met in a closed meeting to discuss the inquiry process on Eskom with the evidence leader,” it said in a statement.

“The committee took the decision to call the witnesses from 17 October 2017 to give evidence. The committee has decided that the names of the witnesses will not be publicised for security reasons.

“The committee is busy with the process of interacting with the witnesses to give them enough time to prepare for the inquiry.

“The committee has decided that the process of the inquiry will be made public.”

The committee has the power to call on ministers, Eskom board members, executives, professionals and other stakeholders to testify how Eskom came to where it is today, explained Professor Anton Eberhard in his Eskom Inquiry Reference Book.

The inquiry, he said, will likely make findings around “the manner in which the governance of South Africa’s state-owned electricity company has been undermined and re-purposed to materially benefit a politically connected elite, while compromising national economic and social development.

“It will likely also shine light on the systematic and individual acts of corruption around Eskom procurement.

“Hopefully it will also make recommendations to prosecute culpable individuals, reform governance, and restructure South Africa’s electricity sector so that grand corruption is less possible in the future.”

Former finance minister Pravin Gordhan is a member of the committee, and is expected to continue his campaign of connecting the dots of state capture.

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