Andre de Ruyter resurfaces to face parliament
Former Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter will appear before a parliamentary committee on Wednesday, 26 April.
The Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) has confirmed that de Ruyter will appear before it tomorrow at 09h00 – however, he will attend the meeting virtually.
Scopa invited de Ruyter to brief the committee in March following an explosive interview with ENCA in which the former chief executive made serious allegations against ANC politicians and members of the executive.
Without naming any individuals, the former Eskom CEO said that government officials were deeply involved in corrupt activity at Eskom. When he took it up with a cabinet minister – later revealed to be Public Enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan – nothing was done.
De Ruyter’s allegations were non-specific, but made it clear that the ANC was rooted in graft at the embattled power utility and was using the state-owned company as a “feeding trough”.
The fallout from the interview was immediate, with de Ruyter stepping down from his position ahead of his planned exit date and then disappearing.
The ANC rejected and denied the allegations, calling for proof. The party later attempted to serve court papers on the exec but couldn’t find him.
The former CEO has not made any public statements since the interview, and the Scopa briefing will be the first time the public and other stakeholders will get a potential expansion and further insights into his allegations.
The committee said it is looking forward to interacting with the former CEO and hopes that the interaction could expose the ‘considerable malfeasance and corruption’ at the national power utility.
Meanwhile, little has been done to investigate de Ruyter’s allegations further.
Despite the ANC’s vehement denial of the allegations, its appetite for further investigations by parliament into the matter has been lacking.
During a parliamentary sitting following the allegations, the party’s MPs rejected calls by opposition parties for an ad hoc committee to be established to investigate De Ruyter’s claims, saying that the respective portfolio committees for Mineral Resources and Energy and Public Enterprises can already do the job.
Neither of these portfolio committees has done so.
The party then used its majority in parliament to shoot down any attempts to set up further investigations.
Regardless, Scopa wanted to hear more and agreed to set up a briefing with the executive to get his side of the story.
Scopa’s mandate is limited to financial oversight over Eskom, however.
The committee members agreed that De Ruyter should be invited to provide Scopa with information on his knowledge of the misuse of public funds at the utility.
The committee also wants to know whether he received instructions from any minister, board member or official to ignore the financial prescripts governing the use of public funds.
Loading ...
