By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Minister of public enterprises Pravin Gordhan has refused to name any politicians who have been implicated in corruption at the state owned power utility Eskom.
Gordhan appeared before the parliament’s standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) on Wednesday, in response to allegations made by former Eskom CEO André de Ruyter about corruption, theft, maladministration, sabotage, lack of consequence management, cartels and other financial irregularities at the embattled power utility.
Gordhan says he won’t name any politicians who have been implicated in alleged corruption at Eskom by de Ruyter.
He said that the names he had been made aware of by de Ruyter were based on “preliminary information” from incomplete and untested intelligence reports, which had zero evidence attached.
Gordhan argued that mentioning names would merely smear the individuals with no basis, adding that much harm has been done in the past by following so-called intelligence reports that proved to be entirely incorrect.
“I am not going to implicate or smear the reputations of others without credible evidence and verifiable facts being provided. Intelligence dossiers, as some of you might remember, have done a great deal of harm and immeasurable damage to our country and to its institutions and individuals,” he said.
“In fact,I was the target of a so-called intelligence report in 2017, after which I was fired as minister of finance. I know what I’m talking about.”
Gordhan said he was not given any copy of any report of the investigation – and as such, he cannot give names. “I saw a diagram,” he said.
“I was told that this was preliminary information, certainly not evidence,” he said.
“Furthermore, it would seem to me that there were weekly reports that de Ruyter received from this project. So I would ask that Scopa request that de Ruyter, or the people who conducted the investigation, or those who have had subsequently gained access to the report provide details on names of individuals.
“The basis for me knowing the names is discredited. And this investigation also stands to be approached sceptically and discredited as well, as some of the allegations or information cannot be verified and are untested at this point in time.
This brings the Eskom corruption name game full circle, with no one willing to put on record the names of senior and high-ranking politicians allegedly involved in corrupt activity at Eskom.
At the launch of the Scopa inquiry into the matter, de Ruyter was first up in refusing to name those involved.
Despite the former Eskom CEO being the one to bring the entire matter into public view, he said that he would not name names over fears for his safety, potential follow-up legal action, as well as potentially defeating the ends of justice by disrupting ongoing investigations.
Gordhan dismissed the suggestion that De Ruyter was a whistleblower.
“De Ruyter is not a messenger… he was in charge of an institution. He was responsible in terms of his contractual obligations for whatever Eskom did or didn’t do. His expressions on corruption are nothing new. We have all said it before his time, during his time and after his time.”
The minister questioned whether De Ruyter recorded conversations he had with people in order to pen his book, titled Truth to Power, My Three Years Inside Eskom.
“Was he more interested in writing a book that would mask his legacy in terms of performance as far as Eskom is concerned? And is that what this book is about? If the message is there’s corruption at Eskom, well we’ve heard it before. The issue is what you are doing about it.
So this is not shooting the messenger. This is not this poor little guy that’s being attacked. He goes into personal descriptions of all sorts. Is it necessary to give an account of what you did or didn’t do at an institution like Eskom? If you are in charge, you must take a sense of responsibility and if you haven’t accomplished your mission show a sense of remorse,” he said.
“You don’t go around making allegations about individuals. That’s character assassination to defend yourself and some would say that’s narcissistic behaviour at the end of the day. We are not here to analyse De Ruyter’s psychology. There are more important things to do.”
He said he did not know if De Ruyter had evidence to back up his allegations or what the intelligence report contained.
Gordhan defended the current Eskom board, saying the members were still finding their feet and were engaged.
The minister told Scopa that he was not on trial here.
“I’ve done nothing wrong. The culprits can come here and account for themselves.”
He accused De Ruyter of resorting to “swart gevaar” tactics regarding the way he conducted himself in the interview.
Gordhan also denied saying “some must eat” when De Ruyter informed him about corrupt activities at Eskom.
The committee will meet again on Friday, to hear from President Cyril Ramaphosa’s national security advisor Professor Sydney Mufamadi, who will appear virtually.
Watch Live in the video below:
Video Courtesy of Parliament.