The Democratic Alliance (DA) said on Wednesday it hopes the courts will “see through Eskom’s cover-up” following an order from the Gauteng High Court that Eskom disclose requested information regarding its existing coal and diesel contracts to AfriForum.

The lobby group suspects that the information contained in these contracts may reveal possible irregularities and corruption at the power utility.

After Eskom refused to disclose the information to the civil rights organisation as part of an application in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act in July 2022, AfriForum approached the courts.

Eskom, which is appealing the judgment, was given until April 5 to hand over the information.

DA Shadow Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy Kevin Mileham said that Eskom’s decision to appeal the decision to release its diesel and coal contracts was “frivolous litigation and a waste of money that it does not have”.

The party said it opposed Eskom’s “transparent attempt to hide the rotting underbelly” of its procurement processes and the associated contracts.

Mileham said that by refusing to divulge details of its contracts as ordered by the courts, Eskom’s actions raised serious questions over whether it was trying to protect the identity of individuals or companies that are irregularly benefiting from the entity through dodgy contracts.

He said Eskom’s penchant for secrecy after receiving over R180-billion in bailouts and dumping R254-billion of its debt on taxpayers, was “astounding and an affront to the principles of transparency and accountability”.

“In simple terms, Eskom is happy to spend billions of rand in taxpayer money but they do not want the same taxpayers to know how or to whom they are spending that money on,” he stated.

Mileham said such secrecy attracted architects of State capture to influence procurement decisions in favour of their front companies, leading to the collapse of Eskom.

Mileham pointed out that former Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter had previously alleged that private individuals and companies had a stranglehold on contracts for coal, construction and maintenance.