The content on this page is not written by Polity.org.za, but is supplied by third parties. This content does not constitute news reporting by Polity.org.za.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) is stunned that Eskom spent R1.2 million on a single lunch party for delegates at the re-opening of the coal-fired Camden Power Station in Mpumalanga during October of this year. Such a frivolous and self-indulgent use of public resources is out of line with the financial constraints our country faces. It betrays the trust the public places in the hands of the national government and our parastatals to spend their money wisely. These funds, which could have provided almost 700 000 lunches to students through the school nutrition programme, fed only 300 delegates at a cost of a staggering R4 000 per person.

This was not even a state dinner but was simply the re-opening of a coal plant that hadn’t been operating at full capacity. The DA will be calling on Brian Dames, Eskom’s CEO, to explain himself to the portfolio committee in Parliament for this obscene splash.

This wasteful expenditure is doubly worrying because Eskom continually requires publicly financed bailouts for its operations. Between 2005 and 2009, Eskom was the recipient of R188.67 billion in state financial assistance, and this year new bailouts have been announced – including guarantees totalling R176 billion that were confirmed in March by former Minister Barbara Hogan, and another R20 billion that the Presidency recently claimed would be allocated in next year’s budget. The DA would like to know whether any of Eskom’s R20 billion bailout money is intended for its catering department? If so, does the ANC government really think this is how it should be spending precious state resources?

With egregious examples of wasted funds like this, the DA’s wasteful expenditure monitor, which tracks various governments’ financial excesses, has almost reached R2 billion. Of course, the DA believes that South Africa must expand its energy production capacity, and is happy to commemorate the opening of new, or old, facilities. But this must be done in line with responsible principles that seek to preserve public funds. Spending R1.2 million to congratulate ourselves for re-opening an old coal plant is not a good use of public resources. Rather, we should put that money towards rolling out electricity connections to the three million homes that still lack them.