By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Former Eskom group chief executive officer Andre de Ruyter confirmed that he will appear before Parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) next Wednesday.
This follows an explosive interview with ENCA, alleging ANC-linked corruption at the most critical company in South Africa.
According to Scopa chair Mkhuleko Hlengwa, De Ruyter will appear virtually before the committee to answer questions relating to the corruption allegations.
“The committee is scheduled to meet on April 26 for an engagement with the former CEO of Eskom,” he said. “He was requested to be physically in Cape Town but I received a request from De Ruyter through his legal representatives to appear virtually. I have acceded to that request.”
Committee members will be required to attend in person due to load-shedding and possible connectivity issues. The meeting is scheduled from 9am to 4pm.
In agreeing to appear before the committee, De Ruyter also indicated he would present a written submission on the issues he raised during an interview .
He expressed concern about attempts to water down governance around the $8.5 billion that was received at COP26. He claimed that a senior government minister had told him that in order to pursue the greater good, some people had to be allowed to “eat a little bit”.
This ruffled feathers within the ANC, and the ruling party called on De Ruyter to lay criminal charges within seven days. Failure to do so would result in the party laying section 34 charges against him relating to the failure to report knowledge or suspicion of corruption.
The ANC also announced that they were finalising summons; however, with no knowledge of where the CEO was, they were unable to deliver defamation summons.
While allegations of corruption at Eskom run wild, the power utility is hanging on by a thread coming into the winter months, when demand is expected to skyrocket and load shedding to increase in severity and frequency.