Eskom board chairperson says utterances made by the power utility’s former Group CEO, André de Ruyter, are misleading

• Eskom board chairperson, Mpho Makwana, says utterances made by the power utility’s former Group CEO, André de Ruyter, are misleading.
• Makwana was briefing the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA) in Parliament on Wednesday.
• De Ruyter made bombshell allegations about corruption at the power utility during a televised interview in February this year, and was released from his position as a result.
• Link to the interview HERE.

De Ruyter he accused the ANC of corruption and political interference at Eskom. In the interview, De Ruyter explained that the ANC was more interested in short-term political gains than long-term sustainability for the country. “They want what will win them the next election – not what will keep the country going for the next two decades,” said De Ruyter. He also said that a senior ANC politician was directly involved in the corruption.

De Ruyter also said that fixing and turning Eskom around is not feasible. Read more

Andre De Ruyter resigned as Eskom GCE in early December 2022 giving four months notice, after the country’s energy minister accused Eskom (him) of agitating to overthrow the state. Read more 

Makwana said following the TV interview, the Eskom board met with De Ruyter and found that he had brought the organisation into disrepute.

“A good number of the allegations that were made misled the public as if there were new developments that had been shared firstly with the board, and that was not the case. Secondly, it would have misled the public in indicating as if there was no action taken internally by Eskom and all concerned (sic),” he said.

Related news: ANC to serve court papers to ex Eskom GCE De Ruyter in Germany

Makwana explained that following the State Capture Commission’s report into Eskom, a task team had been appointed to deal with issues in that report and take action.

“Since the establishment of that State Capture task team, a lot of disciplinary hearings have occurred inside Eskom. In the public domain, it is known that in the period around late September or mid-October, a good 26 former executives – including a former acting CEO of Eskom – had been arrested and appeared in court in relation to the allegations that were made.

“When Eskom made a statement that there was nothing new [in De Ruyter’s allegations], it is because these matters were already in court, with regard to the 26 executives that had been arrested.”

Makwana said the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) has also recovered some R1 billion in Eskom funds that were taken from the organisation through illegal activities.

Makwana said beyond the issues cited in the State Capture Commission’s report, the board also asked its internal task team to look for any other issues that may arise.

“We asked the internal State Capture and corruption task team to look further into whether there were any other matters that the board may not be aware of that could not have been cited in all these various documents.

“The board further resolved that it is important, in keeping with our fiduciary duties and responsibilities, that an independent legal panel be appointed, where you could have perhaps a senior counsel or someone senior in the legal profession that could revisit everything that has been done to date by both the internal State Capture task team and any other investigation that Eskom would have done internally, and to look at whether there’s anything further that the board should be doing,” he said.

Ex Group Chief Executive (GCE) Andrè de Ruyter has spilled the beans on the extent of corruption at Eskom. Image credit: GBA

De Ruyter is set for another explosive TV interview with Bongani Bingwa on M-Net channel Carte Blanche tomorrow night where he will be discussing Eskom intelligence files from a secret location. 

Author: Bryan Groenendaal

Source: SAnews.gov.za