By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Eskom Board appeared before Parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA) on Wednesday, as it continues with hearings into former CEO Andre de Ruyter’s graft allegations at the power utility.
However, de Ruyter has refused to reveal the names of the politicians he’s alleged to be involved in corrupt activities at Eskom. This prompted Standing Committee on Public Accounts to call back de Ruyter at a later stage so that he could give evidence under oath.
The Hawks, along with SAPS and the SIU, testified before the Committee on Tuesday about De Ruyter’s corruption allegations.
Eskom board chair Mpho Makwana has told parliamentarians that following the airing of the interview in which the utility’s now former CEO made damning claims, they asked an internal task team into state capture and corruption to look into whether there were new claims that had been cited.
The board is appearing before the committee as part of lawmakers’ efforts to get clarity on the extent to which authorities were privy to the allegations made by Eskom’s former CEO, and what actions were taken to address the alleged misuse of public funds.
“In that conversation, he acknowledged that the interview did take place. In his own words, he said that if the board was of the view that his utterances had caused embarrassment to Eskom then he would be agreeable to a variation of the terms of his then notice period which was 31 March 2023, after we had extended the end of service period from 28 February 2023,” Makwana said.
De Ruyter resigned in December 2022, just days after reports of an alleged poisoning attempt emerged.
He was expected to stay on as CEO until the end of March 2023, but Makwana said when they met in February to discuss the ramifications of the utterances made by the then-outgoing CEO, they decided to release from this notice obligation.
“The board arrived at the view that some of the utterances that he made had brought the company into disrepute and therefore resolved to agree to the variation of his notice period to the original 28 February 2023.”
The board further resolved to release him forthwith from his obligation to serve the remainder of his notice period at that time and released him with immediate effect.”
Makwana said the conclusion that De Ruyter had brought Eskom into disrepute was informed by the fact that his statements were misleading to the public.
He said the claims were not new and had been recorded in a report by the State Capture task team which had been established based on the findings of the State Capture Commission of Inquiry.
“A good number of the allegations that were tabled misled the public as if they were new developments that had been shared with the board; that was not the case. Secondly, it would have misled the public in indicating as if there was no action taken internally by the board and all concerned.”
Makwana said in addition to asking the task team to look into whether there were any new claims of maleficence, they were in the process of procuring the services of an independent legal panel to revisit previous internal probes to look at what else the board could do to execute its fiduciary duties and responsibilities.
Meanwhile former Eskom board chair Professor Malegapuru Makgoba has confirmed that the utility’s former CEO had informed him of an intelligence operation at the entity.
Makgoba told the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) during a virtual appearance on Wednesday that he, as board chair, ministers Pravin Gordhan and Bheki Cele, national security advisor Sydney Mafumadi and President Cyril Ramaphosa were informed of alleged corruption at Eskom’s power stations.
“Indeed, De Ruyter did inform me. I know that on the 5th of July 2022, De Ruyter did inform Mufamadi and Gordhan. On 16th July he took Cele and Gordhan and Mantashe to Tutuka for them to have first-hand info about what corruption and sabotage mean in a single power station – with the president.
“Later on, the president met with some of the station mx at Megawatt Park to discuss what he had learned, and he was very much engaged in that.”
He said the board was frustrated by the slow action of law enforcement authorities on reports of alleged criminality.
“If SAPS and the Hawks had done the work effectively and efficiently, we wouldn’t be meeting here as a committee. The issue that De Ruyter undertook was an operational matter because Eskom at the time was besieged with sabotage and corruption and we were not getting any mileage from the law enforcement agencies.”
Makgoba said, based on the presentation by Eskom’s security head on interventions that resulted in 44 organised crime-related arrests and other efforts to curb procurement irregularities, did not differ from the claims made by the former CEO.
“What I heard from the board of Eskom today doesn’t contradict what De Ruyter has said, because in his own presentation, he alluded to all of these issues, and he did make a statement to the effect that progress has been made.
“He didn’t articulate in detail what we heard around oil fuel and free text, but he did indicate that progress was being made.”
He added that while the board was concerned by the allegations and the apparent slow response by law enforcement, they left it to the CEO to follow up as these were largely around operational matters.
However, Makgoba added that as interim board chair, he never received any evidence of the private intelligence report.
“I never received any evidence or documentation but nevertheless I did receive the message – word of mouth. I also can confirm that the exco at Eskom was not privy to what was going on in terms of this intelligence gathering.
Gordhan is scheduled to speak before Scopa in the coming weeks after he returns from a trip to China where he is addressing an issue with one of Transnet’s suppliers. Mufamadi is also scheduled to appear before Scopa over the probe.
Watch Live in the below video.
Video Courtesy of Parliament.