PetroSA baggage: Is South Africa's new petroleum company REALLY a fresh start?

702's Bongani Bingwa is joined by Michael Marchant from Open Secrets to unpack the troubling state of PetroSA and its role in the newly launched South African National Petroleum Company (SANPC). 

Listen below:

Marchant says he is concerned because there has been very little accountability at scandal-hit PetroSA. 

He says it's an all-too-familiar story.

"PetroSA has kind of been compromised almost from the get-go. So, in the year it was formed, was the first scandal that it was involved in where it was seen to be funnelling money to the ANC from a contract. And, arguably, it's kind of lurched from one crisis to another."

- Michael Marchant, Open Secrets

He says PetroSA has also been incredibly secretive and that it has not helped that politicians, both ministers and parliamentarians at the time, have often shielded PetroSA from proper scrutiny.

"... 2016... famously, the Ikwezi gas project fell apart; R14.5-billion in assets had to be impaired. And yet most of the parliamentary hearings into that were held behind closed doors."

- Michael Marchant, Open Secrets

Marchant adds that there's still no transparency around PetroSA's diesel contract with Eskom.

He says what is so discouraging is that PetroSA is completely financially unviable. "It's been run into the ground through poor governance and mismanagement."

"What is so discouraging is to see how many individuals in the new South African National Petroleum Company come from PetroSA. The chair of the board was fired from PetroSA in 2010 due to corruption allegations. But again, there's been no transparency ever around what those were. And there are at least three other members of the board who have worked in senior positions at PetroSA over the years."

- Michael Marchant, Open Secrets

Scroll up to the audio player to listen to the interview.