SA’s Deputy President Mabuza Should Step Aside After Eskom Scandal

South Africa’s opposition party, the DA (Democratic Alliance), says it notes the report by News24 that a foundation registered to Deputy President David Mabuza received a “strategic donation” of R30 million from General Electric through Eskom in 2016 when he was still the Mpumalanga premier.

“If the ANC is consistent in the application of its own resolutions, it must add Mabuza to its list of members who should step aside while they’re under investigation for corruption,” says Ghaleb Cachalia – DA Shadow Minister of Public Enterprises.

“Reports reveal that a senior Eskom executive offered the donation to Mabuza’s Foundation in 2016 after General Electric had financed part of Eskom’s Corporate Social Responsibility programme.”

The DA says that tenders worth R178 160 990.84 – awarded by Eskom over the past decade – are reportedly tainted by corruption. Apparently the corruption at Eskom is so widespread that Eskom sources, forensic experts and investigators told News24 that “neither Eskom nor law enforcement agencies have sufficient resources to deal with the vast network of corruption at the company”.

“fat cats in the ANC and at the parastatal, like Mabuza, felt no shame in bringing the power utility to its knees by looting billions”

Cachalia points out that the South African economy has suffered sustained loadshedding, and is still under threat from power cuts to this day, while “fat cats in the ANC and at the parastatal, like Mabuza, felt no shame in bringing the power utility to its knees by looting billions.”

Cachalia says Kusile has still not been fully completed and poor performance at the station again led to a recent bout of load shedding… on top of which, he says, Kusile is far from the only power plant that has suffered from alleged large-scale corruption at Eskom.

“Deputy President Mabuza has done nothing but eat taxpayers’ money, while many struggles for daily survival. It seems he is as rotten and corrupt as they come,” says Cachalia. “The DA will request confirmation from Mabuza in Parliament of his complicity in this payoff.”