The DA says it will question deputy president, Cyril Ramaphosa, over a reported dodgy coal deal between the Guptas and Eskom.<\/p>\n
The Sunday Times reported that state-owned and state-controlled power utility, Eskom, ‘bent over backwards’ to ensure that the politically-connected Gupta family were awarded a coal deal to the value of R4 billion.<\/p>\n
“It is incumbent on Cyril Ramaphosa, as head of government\u2019s \u201cwar room\u201d on the energy crisis, to provide a full and detailed explanation as to how this occurred under his watch,” said shadow minister of public enterprises, Natasha Mazzone.<\/p>\n
“Gupta-owned company, Tegeta Exploration and Resources, astonishingly landed a R4-billion deal to supply Majuba power station in Mpumalanga with coal for the next 10 years, despite having been rejected since 2011, due to their poor standard of coal.<\/p>\n
“The company was awarded the deal on its fifth attempt, after failing a coal quality test four times \u2013 at a cost of R100,000 per test to Eskom. After the deal was concluded, four senior employees were controversially suspended after they questioned the quality of the Gupta coal,” Mazzone said.<\/p>\n
The analysis reports following the tests showed the coal to be supplied was ‘marginal’, raising questions as to why the coal was chosen over other options, the DA said.<\/p>\n
“It is a well-known fact that the Gupta family has strong ties to the ANC, and President Jacob Zuma in particular. From the chartering of Gupta-owned aircrafts and the infamous ‘Guptagate’, to inflated expenditure by government on advertisements in the Gupta-owned newspaper The New Age, one thing is clear \u2013 the Guptas come first, and South Africa comes second,” Mazzone said.<\/p>\n
The DA said it will be requesting answers to the following questions from Ramaphosa:<\/p>\n
“South Africa has a right to be assured that every cent of public funds is spent to further the lives of every citizen,” it said.<\/p>\n
On Sunday, Oakbay Investments CEO Nazeem Howa, told the Citizen<\/a>, that the article in the Times was \u201cpoorly researched, factually bankrupt story and editor\u2019s comment\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cIt claims we are supplying Eskom with sub-standard coal \u2013 again, the daily testing at Eskom-controlled labs will prove this to be untrue. The discrepancy in quality only came up in August 2015, despite daily testing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n He said that Oakbay Investments, the family\u2019s (Gupta) primary vehicle, holds less than 50% of the shareholding in Tegeta.<\/p>\n Gupta family scores R4-billion coal supply deal with Eskom<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Eskom fails performance targets, pays bonuses anyway: DA<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\nMore on Eskom<\/h3>\n