Unwise to believe Ramaphosa and his party will deal with corruption at Eskom

Those who criticise former Eskom chief executive André de Ruyter for not reporting corruption allegations to the police should pay attention.

Business Leadership SA said it “fully supports Eskom chair Mpho Makwana’s call for De Ruyter to walk to the nearest police station and report the matter”.

Yet, De Ruyter has reported, according to Justice Minister Ronald Lamola. In the Sunday press, Lamola said: “Many of the cases he blew the whistle on have been attended to. So, I definitely think the ones Mr De Ruyter was referring to, he had already brought them to the attention of the law enforcement authorities, who are attending to them.”

ALSO READ: Prove that De Ruyter is a liar instead of asking him for names publicly

In The Citizen yesterday, Solidarity’s Dirk Hermann said De Ruyter reported the allegations to senior Saps officers last year.

One sensational matter De Ruyter referred to in last week’s TV interview was the involvement of a Cabinet minister. Presumably law enforcement authorities are aware of the minister’s identity – and they are “attending”. They would be unwise to disclose the minister’s name before they have enough evidence to press charges.

Yet, few South Africans would trust the police to do the right thing.

According to a Human Sciences Research Council study last year, only 27% of South Africans have faith in the police. Even fewer trust politicians.

Regarding De Ruyter’s allegations against senior politicians, not many expect the truth will come out and justice to be done.

ALSO READ: Fired Eskom chief executive De Ruyter ‘a victim of a mafia world’

Lamola’s job includes improving confidence in the justice system. On Sunday, he said no-one can stop the anti-corruption process under way at Eskom. That sounds encouraging, but ANC politicians mislead when they make anti-corruption noises.

Consider, for example, President Cyril Ramaphosa putting a positive spin on South Africa being added to the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF’s) global greylist.

“The greylisting is an opportunity for us to tighten our controls and improve our response to organised crime,” Ramaphosa said in his weekly newsletter. His underlying message: greylisting is not so bad, we’ll handle this. In fact, the effect is negative, as seen in the fall in the value of the rand.

The FATF is not satisfied with SA’s willingness and ability to deal with illicit financial flows. Reassurance from Ramaphosa is bizarre.

ALSO READ: ANC gives De Ruyter seven days to lay charges over Eskom corruption

Illicit financial flow is precisely what he is accused of in the Phala Phala scandal. Large amounts of foreign currency hidden in the furniture at his game farm raised concerns about possible illegal financial activity.

He has not offered a convincing explanation. Instead, the governing ANC used its parliamentary majority to quash a Phala Phala report. No-one could accuse Ramaphosa of transparency.

It would be unwise to believe Ramaphosa and his party will deal with corruption at Eskom. In December 2014, as deputy president, Ramaphosa was assigned to oversee the turnaround of Eskom. Some turnaround. Corruption and load shedding flourished.

If we leave it to Ramaphosa, we may never know the truth about all politicians involved in Eskom corruption. Their aim is to keep us in the dark, literally and figuratively.

ALSO READ: De Ruyter told Gordhan about corruption as two ministers ‘implicated’ in Eskom probe

Thank heavens for investigative journalists and the courts. May they keep shining light in dark ANC places.