MPs rebuke Eskom board for inaction after reports of massive graft

Eskom top brass on Wednesday took flak from MPs on the parliamentary standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) for failing to get to grips with the independent intelligence report and engaging with former group chief executive André de Ruyter – to understand the magnitude of corruption at the power utility.

De Ruyter’s allegations

Challenging Eskom board members, who included acting chair Dr Claudelle von Eck and acting group chief executive Calib Cassim, on lack of action on De Ruyter’s allegations of massive graft, MP Benedicta van Minnen said it was “well and good to say he [De Ruyter] brought the company into disrepute, but have you investigated the claims?

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“Most of what we are hearing, we heard before at the last November meeting in Cape Town, when Mr De Ruyter spoke extensively about problems at power stations.

“When somebody raises alarm bells – do you say somebody is bringing the company into disrepute, instead of listening to what has been said and investigating?

“To say these are baseless allegations when corruption is embedded, there is a lack of will to tackle it,” said Van Minnen.

‘Fiddling while Rome burns’

She challenged the Eskom board to show commitment in investigating issues raised.

“I am worried that it is a case of fiddling while Rome burns,” said Van Minnen.

“If there are allegations, they cannot just be dismissed, but should be looked into – the commitment I am looking for. It is well and good to have policies and systems in place, but when we go to power stations, it looks like a federalised system. Power stations are a law unto themselves.

“There is Eskom headquarters where things are put together but when you are 200km away it is almost as if power stations operate on their own – where criminal activity thrives on that isolation.”

Commitment to turn Eskom around

Responded Von Eck: “We are aware that we are dealing with great complexity and we have to move as fast as we can possibly can. What we have been asking within Eskom is to investigate, covering all aspects.

“We are dealing with a combination of things – a perfect storm of fraud and corruption crime. To clean the house, you have to have a combination of competence and the amount of people that you need.”

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Von Eck said she “came onto the board at Eskom because the country is burning and I would not want the next generation to inherit what we created”.

“There is commitment from our side to clean house and turn Eskom around.

“When we say take it to its former glory, it may not be in the same form – when it was among the best in the world.

“It was a good example of what South Africa is and can be.

“If you look at the meetings and conversations that we have held so far, it is impossible to come to a conclusion that we are complacent about it – unthinkable.

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“Perhaps, in terms of how we are communicating, we need to be a bit clearer.

“Within the first three months we walked into a storm – 60 meetings just to get around to understand everything,” said Von Eck.

MPs also challenged the Eskom board for failure to obtain the intelligence report into Eskom corruption.

“I did have a discussion with the SIU [Special Investigating Unit] and Business Leadership South Africa, but I have not had a discussion with George Fivaz yet,” said Cassim. “We have requested it.”