Parliament – MPs on Tuesday expressed doubt that anyone would be held accountable for the failings of two state owned entities, the Strategic Fuel Fund (SFF) and PetroSA, as its holding company, the Central Energy Fund (CEF) was slammed for not taking problematic deals involving billions of taxpayer rands seriously enough.
The CEF briefed Parliament’s portfolio committee on energy about, among others, posting a R259 million net profit from a R14.2 billion loss in 2014/15 and a cash balance of R16.2 billion, but it was the losses and irregular spending by its subsidiaries that took centre stage as MPs demanded answers.
In particular, MPs wanted answers on an investigation into the sale of over 10 million barrels of the country’s strategic fuel stocks.
African National Congress MP Thandi Mahambehlala called the selling off of R5 billion worth the country’s strategic crude oil stocks, without the requisite approval of Treasury - meaning the sale was illegal, “stealing in broad daylight”.
“This clearly is a confession that the strategic stocks were stolen right under your noses, but you are not concerned,” said Mahambehlala.
“It’s taxpayers’ money and the tax I’m paying is very huge…I want to know where is my tax? Is my tax getting chowed by some rich person..now you must account today on my tax.”
SFF interim chairman Tseliso Maqubela was hesitant to go into detail, saying a review ordered by Energy Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson into over 30 fuel contracts entered into by the SFF was yet to be conducted.
Maqubela told MPs UK-based law firm Allen and Overy have been contracted to do the review.
“This company is a UK-based company and perhaps the question would be is why UK-based? – because we were looking for a company that in the recent past has not done any work with any of our subsidiaries because we didn’t want any bias that goes into that actual review,” he said.
“The terms of reference actually are quite comprehensive, because what we are looking for in terms of these contracts is whether they are enforceable…what are the possibilities for SFF? What are our options? What are the risks and so on but very importantly where were the control weaknesses?”
In July, the CEO of the SFF resigned following SFF chief executive Sibusiso Gamede and the chairman of the CEF Riaz Jawoodien resigned amid a bid to buy Chevron assets in the county without obtaining Joemat-Pettersson’s approval as required by law.
Most of the executives and board members of CEF and its subsidiaries were briefing MPs in acting and interim capacities, meaning the portfolio committee could not get many of the answers they sought, or try to hold anyone accountable.
Maqubela said he hoped the review would ensure that those responsible would be named.
“We have tried to steer clear as an organisation from actually pointing to a guilt of individuals…but of course the review itself will point us to exactly who we can hold accountable.”
Petro SA, the state-owned oil company, also have acting executive managers and a board chairman. Following an impairment of R14 billion due to lower than expected gas yields from drilling wells off-shore, the group “parted ways amicably” with its CEO and CFO. A forensic report on what went wrong is yet to be made public.
Committee chairman Fikile Majola said was doubtful that those responsible for the mess at both the SFF and Petro SA would face the music.
“People commit mistakes and then there’s an ‘arrangement’, and I call it an arrangement, where they say go and then they bring other people so that those ones cannot be held accountable,” Majola told ANA on the sidelines of the committee meeting.
“I am convinced these things are being arranged. It happens all the time. You can go to Petro SA, all the people involved in the things that we are discussing, were let go, so people commit mistakes, sometimes wilful mistakes, and then when they are caught they are let go and then you bring in new people.”
African News Agency