The DA has called on President Cyril Ramaphosa to authorise a Special Investigating Unit (SIU) probe into alleged corruption in the awarding of a critical tender for 2,000MW of emergency power generation, which is intended to help mitigate SA’s electricity crisis.
The call comes hard on the heels of Friday’s court challenge by failed bidder DNG Power Holdings, which alleges the process was rigged by senior officials and close associates of mineral resources & energy minister Gwede Mantashe.
DNG asked the high court to review its disqualification and stop the government from implementing agreements with the preferred bidders, a move that could delay implementation of the 20-year power-generating projects and prolong SA’s recurring electricity cuts.
The government announced its preferred projects in March, saying at the time that they would inject R45bn into the economy and that power would flow from August 2022.
The DA has questioned the government’s selection process, alleging it was geared to favour Turkey’s Karpowership, three of whose floating gas power stations are among the eight chosen projects.
It won more than 60% of the power-generating capacity.
DNG had proposed building three gas-powered power stations at Komatiepoort, Malelane and Coega, which it said could generate 1,300MW of power within 18 months of breaking ground.
The DA’s call for a parliamentary investigation last week was rebuffed by the portfolio committee on mineral resources & energy. It has yet to get a response from the standing committee on public accounts to its request that it sanction an inquiry, according to DA mineral resources & energy spokesperson Kevin Mileham.
“We will do all we can to make sure this matter is ventilated,” he said.
Given Ramaphosa’s anticorruption stance at the Zondo commission last week, Mileham said he was hopeful the president would sanction the SIU to investigate the tender.
Allegations by DNG Power CEO Aldworth Mbalati “about the involvement of family members of Gwede Mantashe and senior department of mineral resources & energy officials in the bid process must now trigger an urgent and comprehensive investigation into the bid adjudication and the scoring of the bidders”, said Mileham.
“SA needs electricity, not crooked tenders and corrupt politicians,” he said.
Mbalati alleged in an affidavit that some of the preferred bidders were unlawfully granted exemptions to the tender requirements and that the tender’s conceptualisation and outcome was influenced by corruption.
In his affidavit, he said he was called to a meeting at a restaurant in Pretoria where he met a business associate and a relative of Mantashe, and two officials from his department, who offered to “assist” with DNG’s bid. He said he declined the offer and was told by one of the officials: “One thing you must understand is that there is a system in this country and if you don’t work in accordance with that system, you will fail even if your project is the best.”
After the bids were awarded, he said the business associate contacted him and asked if he had “learnt his lesson”.
Karpowership told Bloomberg it strongly rejects allegations of impropriety.
“The false allegations by a failed bidder are alarming. It is right to have robust debate about the best options for SA’s energy future, but these debates should be fact based,” it said.
The department of mineral resources & energy said on Friday it intended to oppose DNG’s legal challenge.
“The department will not at this stage comment on the merits of the case as the matter is sub judice,” it said.
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