DURBAN - Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Gwede Mantashe wrote in a Parliamentary reply that a forensic probe into how South Africa's strategic fuel stock was sold off in 2015 has been wrapped up.
The report will be tabled before the board of the Central Energy Fund, South Africa's energy holding company. The reply had been in response to a question by DA MP Kevin Mileham.
The report details the sale of 10.3 million barrels of South Africa's strategic fuel reserves by the Strategic Fuel Fund in 2015 at a price of around $28 (R397.60), however around that time the price of Brent crude per barrel was around $37-$44 (R525.40 - R624,80).
Three months after the sale of the strategic fuel, March 2016, the former minister of energy Tina Joemat-Pettersson said in her annual budget speech that strategic fuel had not been sold but rotated.
In 2017 Joemat-Pettersson's successor Mmamoloko Kubayi confirmed that the strategic fuel had been sold.
Neville Mompati, the chairperson of the SFF board told MPs in a Parliamentary briefing this year that a draft version of the forensic report recommended that the issue should be dealt with on a criminal level.
After that, the chair of the CEF was fired by former Minister of Energy Jeff Radebe, citing serious allegations. The CEF has also applied to have the 2015 sale of South Africa's strategic fuel rendered null and void.
Radebe was later replaced by Mantashe during the Cabinet reshuffle by President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Do you feel that the sale of this oil was legal?
— Business Report (@busrep) July 10, 2019