Andre de Ruyter, the former chief executive officer of state-owned power utility Eskom who said the organization was riddled with corruption, has agreed to appear before the South African parliament\u2019s Standing Committee on Public Accounts and also present a written submission.<\/p>\n
He will be asked about corruption, theft, maladministration, sabotage, lack of consequence management, cartels and other financial irregularities at Eskom, the committee said in an emailed statement.<\/p>\n
A date for the meeting hasn\u2019t been set yet.<\/p>\n
De Ruyter said in a television interview in February that Eskom was losing about 1 billion rand ($55 million) a month due to corruption and theft, with the help of people linked to the ruling African National Congress.<\/p>\n
A day later, Eskom announced that De Ruyter would leave the company with immediate effect.<\/p>\n
Feeding trough<\/strong><\/p>\n In an explosive interview with ENCA on 21 February, the former CEO, when asked whether he believes those in the ruling party ANC see Eskom as a “feeding tough”, he said that evidence would suggest that is the case.<\/p>\n \u201cI expressed my concern to a senior government minister about attempts \u2013 in my view \u2013 to water down governance around the $8.5 billion US dollars that, by and large through Eskom intervention, we got at COP26.<\/p>\n \u201cThe response was essentially, \u2018you know, you have to be pragmatic \u2013 in order to pursue the greater good, you have to enable some people to eat a little bit\u2019. So yes, I think it (corruption) is entrenched,\u201d said De Ruyter.<\/p>\n The former CEO’s comments caused an uproar within public and political spheres calling for more details. The ANC is now preparing to sue De Ruyter for defamation.<\/p>\n For the ANC to sue De Ruyter for defamation, the ruling party must first, deliver the summons to him; however, no one currently knows where he is.<\/p>\n