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Opposition parties on Monday lamented the government's decision to exempt Eskom from disclosing fruitless and wasteful expenditures in its annual statements for the next three years.
Finance Minister, Enoch Godongwana, published the exemption in the Government gazette on Friday, sparking a political outcry.
DA MP, Dr Dion George, said, "there is significant financial irregularity that Eskom wants to hide from investors and South African taxpayers who fund it."
He said Treasury and the Minister must immediately withdraw this exemption.
"It is unacceptable to hide material financial information from auditors in the hope of obtaining a better audit outcome. Finance is based on trust and this exemption further erodes confidence in our already battered economy," George said.
ActionSA leader, Herman Mashaba said he was extremely concerned by the decision of the Finance Minister saying that "an exemption from declaring its irregular and fruitless expenditure will allow the utility to hide criminality and theft at the embattled power utility."
"As such, we have instructed our legal team to interrogate the legality of this exemption, as we believe that this is a clear abuse of power. For too long the coffers of state entities were used for self-enrichment by the ANC and their cronies," Mashaba said.
"With this newest move, the ANC-aligned criminal syndicates will be given full licence to continue looting at the utility," Mashaba said.
Environmental lobby group, Greenpeace, described Godongwana's decision as "baffling" saying "at first glance, it gives Eskom free rein to avoid transparency, and most people in South Africa will understand it as such."
"The government has put the cart before the horse and stumbled over both by publishing the exemption first and promising a technical explanation later. South Africa needs action, not smoke and mirrors, and most certainly not more corruption from Eskom," said Greenpeace Africa Climate and Energy Campaigner Thandile Chinyavanhu.
Moneyweb reports that the "surprise exemption was made in terms of Section 55 (2) (b) (i) of the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) of 1999 and Treasury Regulation 28.2.1 of section 76 of the Act and published in the Government Gazette on Friday (31 March 2023) by Minister of Finance Enoch Godongwana."
"The exemption applies to Eskom's 2022/23, 2023/24, and 2024/25 financial years but the notice did not provide any explanation for the exemption," and followed the release of the utility's interim financial results for 2022/2023.
