Eskom board fails to pitch for Parliamentary meeting

Eskom's COO, Jan Oberholzer

The meeting was convened, to among other things, discuss two legal reports – one about chief operating officer Jan Oberholzer, and the other about a multi-billion rand fuel oil supply contract. Eskom board members didn't log on, sending a text message to say they were "tied up". Adding to the chaos, parliamentary staff forgot to invite Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan, under whose portfolio Eskom falls.

Oberholzer, Eskom chief executive officer Andre de Ruyter and several other executives did attend.

“You had chaos from the board side, which made it a farce. You couldn’t address the issues, particularly the issue of the COO," said Alf Lees, a Democratic Alliance member of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts.