The Department of Energy has sold off R5 billion worth of South African oil reserves, without getting permission from Treasury, the DA said on Thursday.<\/p>\n
According to the party,\u00a0Minister of Energy, Tina\u00a0Joemat-Pettersson and Central Energy Fund (CEF) Chief Executive, Sibusiso Gumede moved ahead with the sale without submitting information to Treasury, which is a contravention of the\u00a0Public Finance Management Act (PMFA).<\/p>\n
The Act stipulated that\u00a0\u00a0before a public entity concludes the “acquisition or disposal of a significant asset”,\u00a0the accounting authority for the public entity must “promptly and in writing inform the relevant treasury of the transaction”.<\/p>\n
The department said the sale was a “rotation of unsuitable stock”, which had been done in the past, and can be done without permission from Treasury.<\/p>\n
However, the DA said that the sale – which was valued at close to R5 billion for 10 million barrels – constituted a “significant asset”, which would make the sale a contravention of the PMFA.<\/p>\n
The party said that the sale has left the country vulnerable, with only enough oil in reserve to sustain the country for less than a day. There is supposed to be enough oil in reserve to cover 20 days – which is in itself much lower than the 90 day international average.<\/p>\n
“Even worse is that this fuel stock was negligently sold at $28 a barrel when the current price is around $49 a barrel<\/strong>,” the DA said.<\/p>\n “This risk exposure threatens to bring our economy to a complete halt as the economy will not function if South Africans cannot attend work or companies cannot function due to a lack of fuel, the estimated costs have been calculated at R1 billion per day to the economy.”<\/p>\n The DA said it has put in a request tog et a full report on the sale, to identify the full list of parties involved in the transaction.<\/p>\n The party said further that if the Auditor General does not take action against the minister and CEF chief, it will push Treasury to pursue criminal charges in the matter.<\/p>\n Government makes a move for Absa<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\nMore on the government<\/h3>\n