{"id":698305,"date":"2023-06-23T08:57:02","date_gmt":"2023-06-23T06:57:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=698305"},"modified":"2023-06-23T08:57:02","modified_gmt":"2023-06-23T06:57:02","slug":"union-wants-de-ruyter-locked-up-over-r500-million-security-tender","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/trending\/698305\/union-wants-de-ruyter-locked-up-over-r500-million-security-tender\/","title":{"rendered":"Union wants De Ruyter locked up over R500 million security tender"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The National Union of Mine Workers (NUM) is calling for former Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter to be arrested for &#8220;money laundering tactics&#8221;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This follows allegations that a R500 million emergency tender was irregularly awarded to security company Fidelity Services Group last year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In July 2022, head of Eskom security Karen Pillay &#8211; together with De Ruyter and acting COO Jan Oberholzer &#8211; afforded a R500 million security tender to Fidelity following a damning private investigation report on corruption at Eskom. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The investigation, initiated by De Ruyter, revealed shocking allegations of widespread looting and sabotage at Eskom. These actions have had a direct impact on the prolonged power outages experienced by the public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.news24.com\/citypress\/news\/eskom-suspends-security-head-karen-pillay-amid-probe-into-r500-million-contract-20230622\" target=\"_blank\">City Press<\/a>, Pillay had allegedly relied on the contents of the intelligence report to award the tender to Fidelity to supply Eskom with 400 armed guards and a variety of hi-tech surveillance equipment that would be deployed at power stations across the country at short notice to avert alleged imminent threats to the utility\u2019s infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, NUM alleged there was &#8220;unfaithfulness&#8221; displayed in the whole process and is now calling for law enforcement to thoroughly investigate the matter and prosecute those found to be at fault.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The union alleged that the lawful processes were not followed in the tender and &#8220;this matter is of serious security concern&#8221; as the tendering process ran only for three months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;To our astonishment, the so-called proponents of anti-corruption are quiet and masquerading as though they are not aware of the R500 million that was afforded to a security company called Fidelity,&#8221; said NUM Highveld. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;We are calling for the law enforcement agencies to wake up and smell the coffee. De Ruyter must be arrested,&#8221; it said, adding that &#8220;such investigations must be extended to Oberholzer as we believe that there was no need for Eskom to pay such an amount of money&#8221;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>NUM added that it is mobilizing its structures to embark on a protest for the money to be paid back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The R500 million tender process is currently being investigated, and Eskom spokesperson, Daphne Mokwena,&nbsp;said Pillay is currently on precautionary suspension to allow the space for investigations to continue unhindered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Read: <a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/energy\/697995\/new-load-shedding-stages-for-south-africa-coming-soon-what-to-expect\/\">New load shedding stages for South Africa coming soon \u2013 what to expect<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mining Union NUM has accused former Eskom CEO Andre De Ruyter and other executives of corruption over a controversial tender awarded last year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":647059,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[18059,18169],"class_list":["post-698305","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trending","tag-de-ruyter","tag-num-highveld"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/698305","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=698305"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/698305\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":698349,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/698305\/revisions\/698349"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/647059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=698305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=698305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=698305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}