By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
SA Police Service (SAPS) investigator Brig Jaap Burger, who was due to give testimony to parliament’s standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) failed to show up for a meeting to account about Eskom
Burger has been described as the central figure in the probe into allegations of corruption, maladministration, sabotage, and political interference at the power utility, as made by former Eskom De Ruyter during an explosive Tv interview at the beginning of this year.
National Police Commissioner General Fannie Masemola told the committee that he had told Burger he must appear at the committee, despite his fears for his safety.
“I did direct Brigadier Burger to be here, and he did raise some concerns about appearing publicly, but I said he should come,” Masemola said.
Asked by MPs what was going at Eskom that a senior police officer surrounded by SAPS felt insecure, Masemola said: The Eskom space is very toxic, and the members I sent there (to investigate) arrested our own members from SAPS itself. Nothing that you get from Eskom can you take at face value. For example, there are calls from other quarters – (even from people who might report to me) – to say I should withdraw certain members (from the investigation). But we don’t rush to do that because there are too many syndicates, which are going all over to tell our investigators things and coming up with various information and smear campaigns. You can’t take it at face value because it might just be people pushing an angle, including those from (inside) Eskom… But we are not afraid to tackle Eskom. We are tackling it, but the space is contested by good people and by bad.
At a previous committee hearing, Masemola said that he had no knowledge of the intelligence reports De Ruyter had commissioned from George Fivaz Forensic and Risk (GFFR) as he had directed Burger to deal with him. He said Burger later told him that he had passed on the information to the Hawks, and he had made no further inquiries.
Masemola said neither he nor Burger had been given the Fivaz reports by De Ruyter.
Burger is no longer head of the SAPS investigation, which has been taken over by the former head of Crime Intelligence, Peter Jacobs.
Committee member Bheki Hadebe, from the African National Congress (ANC), said while they had no intention of compromising the safety of individuals nor the integrity of ongoing investigations, it was important that the committee is given the information it needs to assist its work.
However, Alfred Lees from the Democratic Alliance (DA) said he did not believe the officer would be in danger if he appeared before the committee because his identity was already in the public domain.
He suggested that Burger must be summoned to appear before the committee.
“Without his input to us about the sequence of events that he was clearly an integral part of, we really are hamstrung in making a decision… So, I would suggest that we must now summon Brigadier Burger to come.
“To suggest that we need to protect his identity it’s not possible. The name is out there, in a big way, by none other than the commissioner and others that have put his name out there,” Lees protested.
The meeting ended with the committee chairperson committing to consulting with Parliament’s legal team on how to take the matter of Burger’s appearance forward.