By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The former Eskom CEO André de Ruyter says syndicates looting the company and imperilling the nation’s power supply received assistance from as high up as the Union Buildings.
In his tell-all book about his time at the power utility, entitled Truth to Power, My Three Years Inside Eskom and released today, De Ruyter also detailed a years-long investigation kept from Eskom and police leadership.
The book follows an explosive interview the executive had with ENCA in February, where he accused the ANC of treating Eskom as a “feeding trough”and referred to at least two high-level politicians as being directly involved in corruption.
The allegations ignited a fire in the media and within government, with stakeholders scrambling to find out precisely who de Ruyter was referring to.
The former CEO alleged that a “highly placed politician” had essentially blocked Eskom and the South African Police Service (SAPS) from acting on intelligence uncovered in the investigation.
He said the politician, who was part of the presidential task team, had “requested that all information be shared only with him”.
This was only one of the challenges he says he faced in his fight against corruption at Eskom.
In his book, De Ruyter also doubles down on his statement that he informed public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan and Sydney Mufamadi, President Cyril Ramaphosa’s national security adviser, of the names of two high-level politicians involved in sabotage.
“Gordhan looked over at Mufamadi and said, ‘Well, I guess it was inevitable that it would come out,” he wrote.
This is the same revelation — without naming names — that he made during his explosive interview on ENCA.
Gordhan is set to appear before parliament’s standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) on Wednesday, 17 May 2023.
De Ruyter’s timely book will likely create headaches for public enterprises minister.
The former Eskom CEO is also set for another explosive TV interview with M-Net’s Carte Blanche on Sunday night.
De Ruyter has done a follow-up sit-down TV interview with weekly investigative and current affairs show Carte Blanche on M-Net (DStv 101).
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It’s the intelligence files scandal that has tainted the tenure of former Eskom CEO, Andre de Ruyter. This Sunday, @bonglez gets to ask him some tough questions. That’s #CarteBlanche 7pm on @MNet channel 101. #Loadshedding #Stage6 pic.twitter.com/Y75ZTlpskI— Carte Blanche (@carteblanchetv) May 11, 2023
From a secret location, De Ruyter talks to Carte Blanche presenter Bongani Bingwa about the Eskom intelligence files.