The standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) has still not been able to get an answer on the identities of the senior politicians who, according to former Eskom CEO André de Ruyter, can be tied to criminal networks involved in corruption and sabotage at the state-owned power utility.
Scopa has been running a series of engagements with Eskom, law enforcement agencies and the government as it tries to get to the bottom of De Ruyter’s allegations made in an interview on eNCA on February 21.
Of particular interest to Scopa were De Ruyter’s claims that he told public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan and Sydney Mufamadi, President Cyril Ramaphosa’s national security adviser, the names of two top politicians allegedly implicated in sabotage and corruption at Eskom. After five lengthy engagements the names of these politicians remain a mystery to Scopa.
During his appearance in parliament in April, De Ruyter would not provide the names of these politicians but referred the committee to Gordhan and Mufamadi.
On Friday the committee met Mufamadi, who, like Gordhan, confirmed that he was invited to a briefing in July 2022 at which De Ruyter told them about the private intelligence investigation he had commissioned.
Mufamadi also confirmed that De Ruyter shared with him and Gordhan the names of senior politicians alleged to be involved in wrongdoing at Eskom.
This information, he said, appeared to be based on the findings of the private intelligence investigation that was conducted by former police commissioner George Fivaz’s company Forensic & Risk. “The nature of the sharing did not include the handing over of a report. De Ruyter briefed us and my sense was that he gave a synoptic presentation of the [findings of the investigation],” he said.
Mufamadi told Scopa that there was “name-dropping during the meeting” and that De Ruyter did talk about a high-ranking political office bearer and about a minister alleged to have links to criminal networks in Mpumalanga.
However, like Gordhan, Mufamadi said he was not prepared to mention those names. The investigation had to run its course. To “start talking about names of people who are mentioned” before any evidence has been produced to support these claims could interfere with the investigation and be an injustice to those people who were named with no proof, he said.
Mufamadi also told Scopa that he did not inform the president about the names of politicians mentioned by De Ruyter. “No report was given to me to carry and hand over to the president. If there was a hope that I would take the [information] to the president this was not shared with me.”
He said that based on what was shared in the briefing he advised De Ruyter to interact with law enforcement agencies that could investigate the findings of the intelligence investigation.
Mufamadi said that after speaking to the national police commissioner after the meeting with De Ruyter, he found the police were “ahead of the curve”. They were already investigating “alleged acts of criminality” taking place in the power stations in Mpumalanga. “The commissioner did say they were in contact with De Ruyter and I repeated to him that if they needed help from the presidency they should get in touch.”
Scopa still hopes to get access to the reports from the private investigation. Ultimately, said DA MP Benedicta van Minnen, the committee wants to verify the allegations made by De Ruyter and find out what the SA Police Service (SAPS), the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (the Hawks), and the Special Investigating Unit have done to investigate these allegations.
“We are aware that we do need to get to a point where we can make recommendations to parliament about how it should proceed. Some very serious allegations have been made regarding sabotage and the role of state players in corruption. We want to verify those allegations and if there is substance to the allegations that senior politicians are involved in corruption at Eskom then we need to find out who they are,” she told Business Day.
“We also want to know what is being doing by law enforcement agencies and if [the Eskom] board and the minister [of public enterprises] are taking these allegations seriously.”
Scopa will resume its engagements on the Eskom matter during the week of June 19. The committee hopes to speak to Busisiwe Mavuso, former Eskom board member and the CEO of Business Leadership SA (BLSA), which helped fund a private investigation into corruption at Eskom. It will also call Brig Jaap Burger of the SAPS, who was delegated by the national police commissioner, Gen Fannie Masemola, to meet De Ruyter to discuss the findings of the private investigation.
The committee chair, Mkhuleko Hlengwa, said that before making a recommendation to parliament, Scopa also wants follow-up engagements with De Ruyter and the Eskom board to discuss new information and contradictory statements given during previous meetings.
Some committee members have suggested that Scopa make a recommendation to the National Assembly to establish an ad hoc committee to run a full investigation on allegations of corruption, political interference, mismanagement and other financial irregularities at Eskom.
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