Parliament, Friday, 20 November 2020 - The Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Mineral Resources and Energy, Mr Sahlulele Luzipo, has welcomed the Western High Court judgement, which was awarded in favour of the Central Energy Fund (CEF) Group and its subsidiary company, the Strategic Fuel Fund (SAFF) to reverse the sale of South Africa's strategic crude oil reserves that were sold in 2015.

Mr Luzipo said that although the traders were awarded a 'wedge loss award,' he is comforted by the fact that both CEF and SFF undertook to seek further legal advice with the intention of appealing that particular section of the judgement.

Moreover, he said that the reversal of strategic crude oil reserves should mark the beginning of a new process of consequence management, which both CEF and SFF should spearhead under the auspices of the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy as the executive authority.

Mr Luzipo said that the financial losses that were incurred by the state with regard to this irregular sale should be recovered from all the responsible individuals. He believes that the court judgement will set a good precedent on many questionable projects by government departments and entities, including the Project Ikhwezi by PetroSA that costed R14 billion without any positive results.

During its oversight visit to the PetroSA Gas-to-Liquid refinery in Mossel Bay on 13 November 2020, the committee requested copies of all forensic reports under the Department of Mineral Resources and CEF with the intention of making sure that there is consequence management on those who are found to be wrong.

ISSUED BY THE PARLIAMENTARY COMMUNICATION SERVICES ON BEHALF OF THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON MINERAL RESOURCES AND ENERGY, MR SAHLULELE LUZIPO.

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Parliament of South Africa published this content on 20 November 2020 and is solely responsible for the information contained therein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 22 November 2020 17:18:02 UTC