ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula briefs the media at Luthuli House in Johannesburg on 31 January 2023. Picture: Nigel Sibanda
The African National Congress (ANC) has hit back at former Eskom CEO André de Ruyter after he accused the party of enabling corruption at the embattled power utility.
Eskom announced De Ruyter’s early departure “with immediate effect” on Wednesday evening following his explosive interview.
De Ruyter, who resigned in December 2022, was due to leave his job on 31 March.
His resignation came after Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe’s comments that Eskom was “agitating for the overthrow of the state” by failing to deal with load shedding.
In an interview with eNCA, which aired on Tuesday, De Ruyter openly spoke about widespread corruption at Eskom.
While De Ruyter admitted he failed to solve the load shedding crisis, he said he believed that Eskom was an ANC “feeding trough”.
“I would say the evidence suggests that it is,” he said.
WATCH: Eskom a ‘feeding trough’ for ANC – De Ruyter
The former Eskom boss revealed that he expressed concern to “a senior government minister” about attempts to “water down” governance of the $8.5-billion deal reached at COP26 to fund the country’s just transition to cleaner and renewable energy sources.
However, the Cabinet member told him to be practical and that “in order to pursue the greater good, you have to let some people eat a little bit”.
“So, yes, it is I think entrenched,” De Ruyter added.
The ANC has since responded to De Ruyter’s comments, saying his utterances were “completely unacceptable”.
In a media briefing following Wednesday’s Budget speech, ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula labelled De Ruyter as a “naysayer” and a “failure”.
He said the ANC would not be side-tracked by the former Eskom CEO’s comments and accused him of venturing into politics.
“His opportunistic venture into the political arena has unmasked his regressive political and ideological agenda. If he wants to become a political player and undermine the efforts of patriotic South Africans – then let him say so publicly and declare for all to know who he is aligned with.
“The CEOs of any entity, including Eskom, should not be involved in open political debates or assertions, and where they have political views, they must be kept private so that they don’t [deflect] attention from their professional work,” Mbalula said on Thursday.
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Mbalula pointed out that De Ruyter had failed in his mandate to turn Eskom around.
“Instead, he shifts the goalposts by advertising his right-wing ideological posture on a matter that falls outside the scope of his employment contract. The question of whether the national energy utility is state-owned or not was never part of his contract.
“It is a forte of the governing party and its ideological perspective on how to best ensure equitable access to electricity as a public good,” he continued.
“We will not back down on this. We also reject his unfortunate, irresponsible, and baseless claims of alleged political meddling and corruption at the embattled power utility. He is now trying to shift the blame from his own short comings to other people.”
The ANC secretary-general said De Ruyter should report any allegations of corruption to law enforcement agencies.
“We must ask why he is only raising these allegations when he leaves Eskom. If Mr De Ruyter has any evidence to the contrary, he is duty bound to present it,” he said.
“He must not say that the ANC wants a piece of cake in renewable energy and the just transition programme of government. I challenge him to come to me if he has got any [evidence] and must go to the police.”
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Mbalula further threatened court action against De Ruyter.
“I will challenge him for saying that our party is corrupt and failing to prove how. I’m not going to wait for some parliamentary committee to summon him.
“We will take action and I am going to write to him through our lawyers that he must prove, within 10 or seven days, what he said. He must come, but we will meet in court.”
Additional reporting by Faizel Patel.
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