The DA has requested an urgent joint oversight hearing in Parliament following a landmark Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) judgment regarding ongoing pollution at Eskom’s Kusile power station.

The party describes the ruling as a damning indictment of the power utility and the regulatory bodies tasked with monitoring it.

The SCA overturned a 2024 High Court dismissal, ruling that Eskom failed in its legal duty to control, minimise, and rectify water pollution flowing from Kusile into downstream water resources and neighbouring farmlands.

The court found Eskom in breach of its 2008 environmental authorisations, the National Environmental Management Act, the National Water Act and Section 24 of the South African Constitution.

DA spokesperson on Electricity and Energy Kevin Mileham confirmed the party wants an urgent joint hearing involving the Electricity and Energy, Water and Sanitation, Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment committees.

The DA wants Eskom’s board, executive management, and relevant departmental directors-general to appear before Parliament to table a comprehensive corrective action plan, pollution monitoring data and enforcement records, environmental and social conditions linked to Kusile’s financing and disclosures of lender notifications, waivers, and independent environmental reviews.

Mileham highlighted that the costly Kusile was funded by taxpayers, yet suffered years of unaddressed pollution limits and weak regulatory enforcement.

The judgment raises critical questions about what Eskom communicated to its international and domestic lenders, he added.

Eskom’s own financial statements show that environmental performance previously impacted its loan agreements.

During previous temporary-stack arrangements, Eskom had to engage three lenders to avoid breaching loan conditions, while two lenders mandated independent environmental reviews.

Parliament must now establish whether these newly identified pollution failures triggered financial exposure clauses, whether lenders were formally notified, and if the National Treasury was advised of potential fiscal risks, Mileham said.

The SCA has placed tight timelines on the State entities: Eskom must file a sworn corrective action plan within 30 days and report on implementation within 60 days and directors-general have 75 days to explain what enforcement action will follow.

The DA maintains that since the public has already “paid heavily” for Kusile's cost overruns and delays, Parliament must ensure environmental failures do not create further financial ruin.

The party wants Eskom and its regulators to now be held strictly accountable to the deadlines imposed by the court.