Read: Audi Alteram Partem – Timelines for some background to this.
Statement by Kevin Mileham MP – DA Spokesperson on Electricity & Energy:
Eskom’s attempt to dismiss the widely reported costs of Medupi and Kusile raises a much bigger question: what have these two power stations actually cost South Africa?
In a media statement issued on Thursday, Eskom insists that the approved construction budgets remain R145 billion for Medupi and R160.5 billion for Kusile, with recorded expenditure of R131.1 billion and R155.5 billion respectively.
That may be an accurate statement of Eskom’s approved construction budgets, but it is not the same thing as the total cost of the projects.
That is precisely what Eskom needs to explain.
The World Bank’s completion assessment for Medupi recorded estimated construction costs of R132.2 billion, together with R44.6 billion in interest during construction. That produces an all-in figure of approximately R176.8 billion, almost exactly the figure Eskom is now seeking to dismiss.
Similarly, the R233.4 billion figure associated with Kusile has previously been reported as a cost-to-completion estimate including interest during construction.
Eskom cannot compare a narrowly defined construction budget with a broader cost estimate and then declare the broader figure wrong without showing what has been excluded.
There are also further costs that require explanation. Kusile remains in project close-out until July 2028, including defect-related and balance-of-plant work. Medupi still requires its flue gas desulphurisation programme, which Eskom now describes as a separate environmental compliance project rather than part of the station’s construction. Changing the accounting does not change who ultimately pays the bill.
South Africans financed these projects through electricity tariffs, Eskom debt and substantial support from the fiscus. They are entitled to know the full cost, not simply the number that fits within a particular project accounting definition.
I have submitted a formal request in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act requiring Eskom to disclose the records behind these figures.
The request will seek the latest approved cost-to-completion schedules for Medupi and Kusile; the capitalised interest attributable to each project; reconciliations between the approved construction budgets, recorded expenditure and total project costs; expenditure on defect rectification and remedial work; outstanding close-out costs; and the latest approved cost estimate for Medupi’s flue gas desulphurisation programme.
Eskom has chosen to make a very specific public claim about what these stations cost. It must now produce the documents that support it.
If R145 billion and R160.5 billion genuinely represent the relevant cost of Medupi and Kusile, the records will show that. If they exclude tens of billions of rand in financing, remediation and outstanding project expenditure, South Africans deserve to know that too.
This argument does not need another press release. It needs the underlying numbers.
Petite Beauty
Fun South African Fact: There are eight astonishing world heritage sites in South Africa.
Suicide Crusher
So Van is in a bar in London with a Frenchman and an Italian. They are boasting of their sexual prowess.
The Frenchman says \”When I pleasure my mistress, I tickle her nipples with a feather, and she floats an inch above the bed in bliss\”.
The Italian, not to be outdone, says \”When I make love to my girlfriend, I lick amaretto liqueur from her navel. She floats a foot above the bed in delight\”.
Van says \”Ya, well, er… When I screw my wife, I wipe my dick on the curtains afterwards, and let me tell you man, she hits the fuckin\’ roof!\”