By Lehlohonolo Lehana
The African National Congress (ANC) secretary-general Fikile Mbalula says the ANC has served court papers on Eskom and its former CEO, André de Ruyter, for his explosive comments on the alleged involvement of senior ANC members in the blundering of Eskom.
ANC challenged de Ruyter to file criminal charges within seven days against those he alleged to have behaved unlawfully at the state-owned power corporation or risk being sued by the party.
The party highlighted Section 34 of the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act (PRECCA), which makes it illegal for people in authority not to report corruption and criminality they are aware of.
While addressing the media on Friday, Mbalula said: “We did follow up on De Ruyter and served court papers on Eskom and the former CEO this week.”
“We think that there is something illegal committed there by De Ruyter; the ANC is a political party that has not instructed anyone to go to Eskom and mess things up,” said Mbalula.
“I cannot accuse the DA or any other political party of things that I don’t have evidence of, because that would be hearsay. Still, when we challenge De Ruyter over his sentiments, they accuse the ANC of suppressing whistleblowers.
“Where did this whistleblower go with this information? Are the television studios he went to a whistleblowing office?” asked Mbalula.
De Ruyter, who left office prematurely after a ‘mutual agreement” with the Eskom board, gave a damaging interview to a local broadcaster that all was not well at the power generator due to rampant corruption, with the ANC treating Eskom like “a feeding trough.”
It is understood that four syndicates operating in Mpumalanga, where most of the country’s coal-powered stations are, have been subject to an investigation.
Besides De Ruyter’s allegations, a private investigation firm has also uncovered some of the nefarious undertakings taking place at Eskom.
From the report, it appears that De Ruyter briefed Minister of Public Enterprises Pravin Gordhan and President Cyril Ramaphosa’s national security advisor, Sydney Mufamadi, on two occasions.
De Ruyter reportedly told them about the corruption at Eskom and the people behind it.
But presidential spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said Mufamadi denied ever being told about these individuals or their names.
Magwenya said no one gave Ramaphosa the name of a politician or syndicate leader involved in the alleged corruption.
This week, Ramaphosa broke his silence over De Ruyter’s interview and said he must go report his explosive allegations of corruption to the police.
“We were most concerned about his utterances and what immediately came to mind to me was that André de Ruyter being the person at the level of group chief executive officer‚ should have gone to any of our institutions with the information that he purports to have because those are institutions that are independent‚ where there won’t be any form of interference‚ diversion‚ blockage or even any form of subterfuge‚ “said Ramaphosa.
Ramaphosa is the latest to add his voice to the growing calls for De Ruyter to report those he accused of corruption and criminal activities at Eskom.
However De Ruyter claims he had previously briefed national police commissioner General Fannie Masemola on allegations of corruption at Eskom involving syndicates in Mpumalanga and two ANC government officials.