PHUTI MOSOMANE
FORMER Eskom Board Chairperson Professor Malegapuru Makgoba revealed at a Parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA) meeting on Wednesday that Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan allegedly instructed former CEO Andre de Ruyter to establish an intelligence unit at the embattled power utility.
Makgoba, who was attending the meeting alongside current Eskom board chairperson Mpho Makwana, confirmed that the unit was privately funded and set up in response to crime and sabotage incidents at Eskom.
SCOPA Chairperson Mkhuleko Hlengwa then asked Makgoba whether he was aware of the intelligence-gathering unit funded privately.
Makgoba responded: “Yes. I was informed and the Minister of Public Enterprises brought this matter because of the crime and sabotage taking place at Eskom. Because of the word that Eskom was besieged.”
“He said to de Ruyter, you have to gather the intelligence somehow, he didn’t say it must be done in a manner that de Ruyter did it- he said we need to gather some intelligence on top of this problem because load shedding was increasing, and criminal activities were increasing.”
Eskom told SCOPA that it doesn’t have a copy of the report from the privately funded intelligence driven investigation initiated by de Ruyter.
Eskom’s Chairperson Mpho Makwana told the committee that Eskom will launch an investigation into the Intelligence Report that was never submitted.
“Mr. de Ruyter did not give us any report. I think he missed the opportunity to give it to this committee. Eskom confirms that the current EXCO was not aware nor involved in the privately funded Fivas investigation unit referred to by Mr. de Ruyter,” Makwana said.
Makwana said the board had concluded that the former Eskom CEO’s utterances during a TV interview had brought the power utility into disrepute.
“I know there is a broad view of wanting to depict Mr De Ruyter as a victim, to depict him as a whistleblower,” he said.
Makwana said de Ruyter had an obligation to go to the nearest police station to report the “senior ANC politician”.
On Tuesday, SCOPA heard that de Ruyter only submitted a report of corruption to the police a day before he appeared before the committee in Parliament two weeks ago.
Eskom, meanwhile, has since implemented Stage 6 load shedding since Sunday.
INSIDE POLITICS
