Johannesburg Energy officials were to face a grilling by MPs today over the failure of the Nuclear Energy Corporation of South Africa (Necsa) to submit its annual financial statements – and questions would also be asked about PetroSA’s financial freefall.
This followed yesterday’s response by the auditor-general’s office that while Necsa, one of the Energy Department’s entities, submitted some financial information, they were “not at liberty to disclose (anything)… the issue is being handled somewhere else (in the auditor-general’s office)”.
Officials in the auditor-general office earlier told MPs of “red flags” over PetroSA’s finances, including R4.6 billion of unfunded mandates. PetroSA’s 2014/15 financial statements disclosed a record R14.5bn loss, bringing it to the verge of collapse.
Energy committee chairman Fikile Majola said these issues would be raised with the department today. “I’m extremely concerned… It is absolutely unacceptable that Necsa hasn’t submitted its financial statements, especially in light of the proposed nuclear-build programme it is meant to play an important role in,” he said.
After Eskom’s withdrawal from the proposed nuclear option due to lack of capacity – the power utility has repeatedly stressed it was all hands on deck to avoid load shedding – Necsa is expected to lead South Africa’s proposed nuclear-build programme of six reactors to produce 9 600 megawatts.
Energy Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson wrote to National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete that Necsa would not submit its financial statements, communication of which was published last week in the announcements, tablings and committee reports, or Parliament’s record of work. The statutory deadline for annual financial statements and annual reports of departments and their entities was September 30, according to the Public Finance Management Act.
Yesterday’s energy committee meeting raised further questions on South Africa’s pursuit of nuclear when it emerged that, as of March 31, there were no targets, milestones or other yardsticks for this submitted by the Energy Department to the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (DPME).
Situated in the Presidency, the DPME is meant to oversee implementation progress across departments.
DPME outcomes facilitator Rudi Dicks confirmed this, saying that by the end of the first quarter of this year, the nuclear-build programme “was not as focused as it is now”.
ANC MP Thandi Mahambehlala said: “We expected to get that part (nuclear) in the report.”
Joemat-Pettersson has come under sharp criticism for the secrecy over the nuclear-build programme, including its costing, rejecting the R1 trillion price tag proffered by independent experts and civil society.
Adding to the woes in the Energy Department entities is leadership instability: PetroSA board chairwoman Nonhlanhla Jiyane quit in July, and in September, Central Energy Fund chairwoman Sankie Mthembi-Mahanyele resigned.
THE STAR