‘Gordhan told De Ruyter to gather intelligence somehow,’ Scopa told

The privately-funded intelligence investigation, initiated by former Eskom CEO André de Ruyter, into corruption at the power utility dominated proceedings in Parliament on Wednesday.

Eskom’s current board appeared before the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) to brief MPs about their response to De Ruyter’s allegations of sabotage and organised crime.

The meeting comes a day after the Hawks, the South African Police Service (Saps) and the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) accounted to the committee.

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It emerged on Tuesday that the law enforcement authorities had no knowledge of any details contained in a report of the R50 million intelligence investigation, which was funded by private donors.

Hawks head Godfrey Lebeya told the committee that he was not aware of the investigation or its findings, despite national police commissioner Fannie Masemola’s claim that the directorate had been informed by Saps.

Lebeya said he first learnt of the private investigation and the related allegations when De Ruyter appeared before to Scopa two weeks ago.

‘Eskom was besieged’

On Wednesday, further details surfaced on how the private investigation came about.

Former Eskom interim board chairperson Malegapuru Makgoba revealed to Scopa that Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan may have planted the seed for De Ruyter to pursue the investigation.

“I think the Minister of Public Enterprises was the one who brought this matter…. he said to André that ‘you have to gather some intelligence somehow… he didn’t say it must be done in the manner that André did it, but he said we needed to gather some information in order to be on top of this problem because load shedding and criminal activities were increasing,” he said.

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Makgoba criticised the police and Hawks for being non-responsive when Eskom reported any criminal activities during De Ruyter’s tenure.

“The issue that Mr De Ruyter undertook was an operational matter because Eskom at the time was besieged with sabotage and corruption and we were not getting a mileage from the law enforcement agencies.”

He said there was “very little action” from the authorities “when Rome was burning”.

“This was repeating itself in a number of ways around cases that were being reported… so as the board we were concerned that our crown in the jewel was being destroyed when we have security cluster that seems to be asleep.”

Watch the meeting below:

Intelligence-driven operations

Makgoba also told the committee that De Ruyter had in fact reported his concerns about Eskom to Gordhan and President Cyril Ramaphosa’s national security advisor, Sydney Mufamadi, on 5 July 2022.

Then on 16 July De Ruyter took several ministers – including Gordhan and Police Minister Bheki Cele – to the Tutuka power station in Mpumalanga, according to Makgoba.

He said the president came later and was briefed on the same day.

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Makgoba pointed out that Ramaphosa made a reference to an “intelligence-driven operation” at Eskom that led to 43 arrests during his State of the Nation Address (Sona) on 9 February this year.

“Which intelligence-driven operation is this?” he asked.

Makgoba further confirmed knowing about the private investigation although he personal did not see a hard copy of the report, which was compiled by the investigating agency of former police commissioner George Fivaz.

“It seems like Saps and Hawks have only woken up after they had this intelligence-related information. As the interim chair of the board of Eskom, I never received any evidence or documentation, but nevertheless I did get the message [via] word of mouth. I can also confirm that the ExCo was not privy to what was going on in terms of this intelligence gathering,” he added.

Eskom board

Earlier, Eskom denied knowing about the investigation or being possession of the report.

“We don’t have the details around what transpired here,” Eskom chief executive for Transmission, Segomoco Scheepers said.

Eskom board chairperson Mpho Makwa also dismissed suggestion that De Ruyter told him about the intelligence operation on 22 November last year.

“No that is not correct,” he said.

De Ruyter last month told Scopa that the constant interference by Gordhan and Eskom’s new board played a role in his decision to resign as they made it difficult for him to carry out his duties.

He claimed that the new board had adopted a different approach to the previous board led by Makgoba, which he had a positive relationship with.

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