The chairperson of the Eskom inquiry in Parliament says the committee will insist that two of the Gupta brothers appear before the inquiry this month, and says the committee is prepared to go to court to force them to appear should they resist, according to Eyewitness News (EWN).
The inquiry into allegations of state capture at the parastatal resumes next week with the testimony of Eskom's chief financial officer Anoj Singh. He was reportedly sent away last week after handing the inquiry a large number of documents at the last minute.
Group executive Matshela Koko will also testify next week.
But the committee's chair, Zukiswa Rantho, says the committee will not grant Ajay Gupta's request for questions to be sent to him in advance.
"If they [the Gupta brothers] decline our request, we will subpoena them. We will stand by our decision and if they want to take us to court, we are ready to go to court," Rantho reportedly said.
According to Fin24, the DA issued a statement on Tuesday afternoon saying that the inquiry would resume on January 23. DA MP Natasha Mazzone said Eskom is "in a crisis" and said much work remains to be done to turn around the parastatal.
The National Assembly has put in place measures to ensure the safety of MPs, including Rantho and Mazzone, who have received death threats, Fin24 reported.
The DA wrote to Rantho earlier this month requesting that the inquiry be reconvened early, according to allafrica.com. This was because of a report by Business Day that Eskom's bonds could be suspended by the JSE by the end of January.
According to Business Day, Eskom has not finalised its interim financial results because it is struggling to refinance its maturing debt. The JSE has given the power utility until the end of January to file its results or risk having its bonds suspended from trading, according to the report.
The DA reportedly said that to prevent a complete collapse of Eskom, work needed to resume by next week.