The African National Congress (ANC) may ask President Thabo Mbeki to set up a commission of inquiry into bonuses paid to Eskom bosses, media reports said on Sunday.
The Sunday Times said a report commissioned by the ANC into the power crisis revealed gross mismanagement at the state utility, including diverting power sourced from Mozambique for domestic use to Zimbabwe.
The utility also invested funds earmarked for power-station maintenance in money-market instruments that falsely boosted the corporation’s financial result, the paper said.
The commissioned report has not yet been tabled at the ANC’s formal meeting but a request for an inquest may come up at an emergency multi-sector energy meeting on Friday, it said.
Eskom management has come under fire for generous bonuses of up to R10-million paid to its management in March, after it started rolling power cuts in January.
But Public Enterprises Minister Alec Erwin defended the bonuses, saying they were for the previous financial year and the utility bosses had met their performance targets.
Two weeks ago, Eskom said it had suspended rolling power cuts it started in January, but did not rule out more cuts if consumers do not save electricity.
The state firm is also seeking a 53% real tariff increase to help fund its R343-billion spending over the next five years to boost capacity.
But communist and union allies of the ANC have vowed to fight Eskom’s tariff increase, blaming the Mbeki government for the power shortage.
The Sunday Times said the ANC was seeking legal advice after several whistle-blowers at Eskom contradicted explanations given by government ministers for the power shortage.
The commissioned report also said Eskom developed a scheme that encouraged management to earn bonuses by cutting expenditure on the system’s ageing generators. — Reuters