The Black Business Council (BBC), which represents black professionals, business associations and chambers, has accused Eskom of targeting black-owned companies.
FOLLOWING Eskom’s decision to deregister Econ Oil from doing business with the state, the Black Business Council (BBC), which represents black professionals, business associations and chambers, has accused the power utility of targeting black-owned companies.
On August 17, the energy supplier wrote to the giant, black woman-owned oil supplier informing the company that it had submitted a notification to National Treasury to initiate the consideration of blacklisting Econ Oil on the National Treasury supplier database, restricting Econ Oil from doing business with the state.
In the letter, Eskom said it had “considered deregistering Econ Oil from the Eskom Supplier Database for a period of 10 years (measured from 10 March 2021), which will preclude Econ Oil from participating in any procurement process or tender run by Eskom or for Eskom whether as a bidder, a qualifying supplier or as a reference to a bidder”.
In response to the revelations by Eskom, the BBC issued a statement on August 19 expressing its unhappiness with the entity’s decision and accused the power utility of “marginalising black-owned companies and the reversal of the transformation agenda”.
“Surprisingly, Eskom never wrote to National Treasury to backlist state capture-linked SAP, McKinsey and Deloitte from doing business with the state. The latter even paid back R150 million to Eskom as an indication and acceptance of wrongdoing.
“The BBC suspects that the above-mentioned companies were spared because they are big, oligopolies, and not black-owned.
“It is the BBC’s firm belief that the action by Eskom continues to marginalise black-owned companies and is a reversal of the transformation agenda,” read the BBC statement.
It continued: “The BBC calls on Eskom management to refrain from such actions and align itself with the government’s transformation programme”.
Furthermore, the organisation stated that it stood firmly opposed to any form of corruption, collusion, cartels, market concentration, and marginalisation of black entities and professionals.
“The BBC calls on all other black and women-owned companies that were mistreated by Eskom to come forward (to the BBC) so that proper action can be taken,” the BBC statement concluded.
Approached for comment, the Eskom media desk said that the entity followed a fair process, offering numerous opportunities to Econ Oil to make representations as to why it should not be deregistered from its supplier database, but the representations were not credible.
“After various investigations into improper relations between Econ Oil and Eskom, there is ample evidence of inappropriate and unethical behaviour, and in particular, attempts to unduly influence Eskom officials, to inappropriately and unlawfully act to the benefit of Econ Oil and in breach of Eskom’s Supplier Integrity Pact,” said Eskom Media Desk.
Econ Oil and Eskom have been at loggerheads since 2020 when Eskom appointed Andre de Ruyter as chief executive officer. De Ruyter ordered the cancellation of a contract between Eskom and Econ Oil on the basis of allegations of corruption.
This was after a report by Bowmans made severe findings against Econ Oil, claiming that the company had defrauded and overcharged Eskom by different amounts for the five-year contract it was awarded.
The two other claims of invoicing on the same issue were a R397 million claim allegedly based on the McKinsey report and a R500 million claim based on the Trengove report.
In March last year, Eskom’s supplier review committee (SRC) gave a notice to temporarily suspended Econ Oil from its database on the basis of allegations that a corrupt relationship exists with an Eskom employee.
In response the company’s managing director, Nothemba Mlonzi, wrote to the embattled power utility asking the SRC to reconsider its decision to suspend Econ Oil from the Eskom supplier database.
Mlonzi stated that the allegations of corruption were a deliberate attack by individuals who wanted to see her company fail and denied all the allegations against her company.
At the time, Eskom spokesperson Sikonathi Mantshantsha said the suspension would not be confirmed as final deregistration for a six-month period, to give Econ Oil an opportunity to approach the SRC within that period with additional information or submissions it may consider relevant for reconsideration of its suspension by the SRC.
In February last year, De Ruyter suspended Solly Tshitangano, its chief procurement officer after Tshitangano complained to Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan and asked for his intervention to tackle De Ruyter’s alleged “racist handling of black officials and black suppliers who were subjected to continuous harassment” since De Ruyter joined Eskom as its chief executive.
However, Mantshantsha said the move to suspend Tshitangano was due to his performance.
In his letter, Tshitangano had stated that De Ruyter was pressuring him and Bartlett Hewu (former head of legal) to manufacture reasons to cancel the fuel oil bid.
From the letters and communication, the Eskom board was requested to cancel the contract in March 2020 before any investigations were done or completed.
Following a disciplinary process in May last year, the power utility axed Tshitangano after he had been charged with gross misconduct, breach of duties, and non-performance.
