Picture: Jacques Nelles
Law enforcement authorities have no idea which politicians were allegedly involved in corruption at Eskom as alleged by the power utility’s former CEO André de Ruyter.
Parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) was briefed by the South African Police Service (Saps), the Hawks and the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) on Tuesday on their response to De Ruyter’s allegations and his decision to institute a private investigation at Eskom.
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The meeting was followed by De Ruyter’s own appearance at Scopa on 26 April, where he refused to disclose the identity of a “senior politician” implicated in Eskom corruption due to possible legal action against him and security risks.
The former Eskom CEO asked Scopa to engage with Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan and President Cyril Ramaphosa’s national security advisor, Sydney Mufamadi, as he had passed on the information to the pair.
On Tuesday, National police commissioner, Fannie Masemola, told MPs that De Ruyter did not disclose any details about the alleged involvement of politicians and the crime cartels.
Masemola said the information the former Eskom CEO gave to the police when they met on two occasions last year, was “generic” and already known to police.
“Those details were never reported at that meeting and neither to me. The only matter he raised to us was that of Mr Matshela Koko,” the police commissioner said.
READ MORE: Eskom corruption claims shake André de Ruyter’s credibility
He denied the suggestion that the police did not follow up on De Ruyter’s information after the meetings.
“We didn’t sit back, I formed a multi-disciplinary team consisting of various departments and some cases were escalated to the DPCI [Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation] for investigation.”
The police commissioner also indicated that he has no knowledge whether there was a police investigator looking into any politician in relation to suspected corruption at Eskom.
“Currently myself I’m not aware of [that],” Masemola said.
According to the Hawks, De Ruyter only submitted an official report about Eskom corruption to the authorities long after he had resigned from the power utility.
Hawks head Godfrey Lebeya informed Scopa on Tuesday that the former Eskom boss did so a day before he appeared in Parliament last month.
He also confirmed that no politicians were under investigation in relation to Eskom corruption.
“It is only evidence that is needed to prove that the alleged sabotage is perpetuated by specific individuals,” Lebeya said.
Lebeya was further asked about the status of Build One South Africa (Bosa) Mmusi Maimane’s case against De Ruyter.
RELATED: Gordhan isn’t aware of crime cartels, but says there’s corrupt elements in and outside Eskom
Maimane laid a criminal complaint with the police in February over the former Eskom CEO’s alleged failure to report suspected corruption as required by the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act (Precca).
“That matter is still under investigation… what needs to be done is that there are certain people that need to be approached so that we get their side of the story for the purposes of presenting the matter to the NPA [National Prosecuting Authority],” he said.
“This is a dicey [matter] because we have got to be cautious and allow the process to be finalised, so all we can say is that matter is under investigation.”
On whether De Ruyter contravened the law by submitting a report with the Hawks after he resigned, Lebeya said: “We don’t want to pre-judge”.
Section 34 of Precca creates a personal obligation for “any person who holds a position of authority” to report evidence of corruption that involves amounts greater than R100 000.
Police Minister Bheki Cele, who arrived late to the meeting, told Scopa that there was “huge” political will to deal with the issues plaguing Eskom, which include coal theft and sabotage, hence the deployment of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF).
Cele suggests that the soldiers will be involved in coordination and monitoring of coal when it is transported to Eskom’s power stations.
“Indeed, there is an organised crime element in the thing, one cannot deny that. There is criminality,” he said.
Ramaphosa on Monday authorised the employment of 880 soldiers to safeguard a number of power plants across the country until 17 October, for a period of six months.
The deployment will cost about R146 million.
NOW READ: Ramaphosa says it’s not his job to find out which ministers are allegedly involved in Eskom graft
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