Parliament, Tuesday, 10 October 2023 – The Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA) today resolved to give Brigadier Jap Burger seven working days to respond to its invitation to appear before it on Eskom-related investigations.
SCOPA made the decision to call Brigadier Burger to appear before it after his name was mentioned during deliberations on Eskom’s former Group Chief Executive Officer Mr Andre De Ruyter’s allegations. The committee is still probing the allegations and aiming to finalise its investigation by the end of the year. During SCOPA’s meetings on this matter, it emerged that Brigadier Burger was the designated South African Police Service official dealing with the allegations levelled by Mr de Ruyter.
SCOPA has issued invitations to Brigadier Burger on two previous occasions but he has ignored the committee on both those occasions. He instead wrote to the Speaker of the National Assembly, Ms Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, stating which committees he prefers to appear before. In the event that Brigadier Burger does not respond to the committee within the stipulated time, the committee will then proceed with the subpoena process.
This necessitated SCOPA to seek legal advice from the Parliamentary Legal Services, which advised that SCOPA is legally mandated to consider information relating to the financial administration of Eskom. The legal advice also stated that there is no reason why Brigadier Burger cannot account and raise issues of national security in response to specific questions as needed, by explaining why the information constitutes national security and why its disclosure will compromise national security, notwithstanding the principles of openness, transparency, accountability and public interest.
Brigadier Burger’s appearance before the committee will assist it to finalise its matter on the Eskom-related investigations. The committee has invited Brigadier Burger to appear before it on Wednesday, 25 October 2023.
ISSUED BY THE PARLIAMENTARY COMMUNICATION SERVICES ON BEHALF OF THE CHAIRPERSON OF SCOPA, MR MKHULEKO HLENGWA.
For media enquiries, please contact the committee’s Media Officer:
Name: Ms Faith Ndenze
Parliamentary Communication Services
Cell: 081 377 0686
Email: fndenze@parliament.gov.za
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