Sale of strategic fuel stock slammed

MPs have slammed the sale of the country’s strategic fuel stock, calling it a ‘heinous’ act of corruption by the governing party. The sale of SA’s crude oil reserves by the Strategic Fuel Fund valued at about R6bn has been the subject of a criminal investigation by the Hawks. The National Assembly has considered the Portfolio Committee on Mineral Resources & Energy’s report following its oversight visit to the Western Cape, where it inspected the fund’s facilities. MPs said that the sale of the country’s fuel stock by the fund was found to have been illegal. A report on the EWN site notes that the opposition Democratic Alliance MP Kevin Mileham said that committee members had been unable to get information from the fund to be able to hold people accountable, including former Energy Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson. ‘We are therefore unable to follow up on the consequences that should arise from this invalid, illegal and irregular sale,’ he said. EFF MP Phiwaba Madokwe said that the sale of the strategic fuel portfolio to private entities ‘has got to be one of the most heinous acts of corruption perpetrated by the ruling party in the energy sector’. Members of the committee adopted the oversight report which noted how the fund’s facilities were poorly managed and rundown.