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AfriBusiness will launch an application in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act, 2000 (Act No. 2 of 2000) against Transnet regarding the New Multi-Product Pipeline’s (NMPP) completion and implementation.

“Brian Molefe, Eskom CEO, has been implicated in various projects and contracts that have cost extensively more than what was budgeted, spanning over his days as CEO of Transnet to his position as CEO of Eskom,” says Armand Greyling, Law and Policy Analyst at AfriBusiness.

Greyling says the PAIA application will shed more light on the fact that Molefe can neither be regarded nor praised as diligent or responsible, following news that Molefe was granted a performance bonus by Eskom for his part in the companies’ turnaround.

According to internal sources at Transnet, the NMPP should have cost nothing more than R11 billion, but the total current bill is more than R29 billion. The project entails the building of a pipeline for the transportation of various fuels from Durban in KwaZulu-Natal to Heidelberg in Gauteng. In December 2007, Transnet received a license from the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) to initiate the project.

Various storage tanks in both Durban and Heidelberg had to be upgraded or built to store the fuel and had to adhere to strict quality control measures and standards set out by the American Petroleum Industry (API 650). To date, none of the storage tanks upgraded or built adhere to these standards, with the result that no fuel has ever been delivered by way of this pipeline.

Greyling adds that Eskom’s board should also strongly consider Molefe’s part in Eskom’s deterioration, instead of granting him a performance bonus or reinstating him as CEO.

The electricity giant took another blow this year when ratings agencies downgraded it, which indicates that the power utility will further suffer constraints as its liquidity comes under pressure.

Latest reports now state that Molefe never resigned as Eskom’s CEO and was merely on unpaid leave.

Issued by AfriBusiness