Johannesburg - South Africa's broad-based black economic empowerment (B-BBEE) commission says it has finalised its investigations emanating from complaints lodged by main opposition Democratic Alliance member Dean Macpherson in 2017 against several entities including state-owned power utility Eskom.
In the complaint, Macpherson alleged that Trillian Management Consulting, Tegeta Exploration and Resources and Optimum Coal Mine submitted invalid or fraudulent B-BBEE certificates and sworn affidavit to Eskom for procurement purposes.
"The B-BBEE Commission issued its final findings to the parties to the complaint on 12 July 2019 and has noted that Democratic Alliance has issued a media statement in regard to these complaints," the commission said in a statement late on Wednesday.
"The B-BBEE Commission will publish its findings in due course."
On Wednesday Macpherson, the DA's shadow trade and industry minister, said the B-BBEE Commission had found that companies aligned to the wealthy Gupta family accused of engineering state capture under former president Jacob Zuma used fraudulent BEE certificates to secure contracts and payments from Eskom.
"The 18-month in-depth investigation by the commission is another window into the murky, abusive and corrupt world of state capture by Gupta companies, pliable Eskom officials and the side-line enablers in the corporate sector to give a veneer of legitimacy to their smoke and mirror dealings," the DA legislator said.
Macpherson said the findings supported DA leader Mmusi Maimane's call for the current model of BEE to be scrapped and replaced by a new model of "genuine redress and inclusive growth that creates a shared future that all South Africans can be proud of".