FinMin Godongwana Withdraws Eskom Exemption Amid Controversy

South Africa's Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana told parliamentary committees that he will withdraw an exemption from reporting fruitless, wasteful and irregular expenditure granted to Eskom last week.

• "We've decided to withdraw the gazette for now and take into account comments to tighten checks and balances," Godongwana told a joint meeting of the standing committees on Auditor-General, Finance, Public Accounts, Appropriations and the Public Enterprises Portfollio Committee.
• The exemption sparked widespread concern over he risk of exacerbating corruption at the beleaguered electricity utility. Criticism came from various quarters, including the ruling ANC party's alliance partner Cosatu, which called for an immediate stop to the exemption.