‘Very contradictory’: Scopa wants De Ruyter, Eskom board to return before deciding on inquiry

Parliament has decided to invite more people to respond to questions regarding the allegations made by former Eskom CEO André de Ruyter.

The Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) met on Wednesday, to discuss a way forward on whether a parliamentary inquiry to investigate corruption and organised crime at Eskom will be established.

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The committee in the past few weeks has called everyone linked to De Ruyter’s allegations made in an explosive interview on eNCA in February – including Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan, Eskom’s board, Hawks, the South African Police Service (Saps) and the Special Investigating Unit (SIU).

The meetings 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.

Anecdotal situation

Deliberating on how to proceed, members of Scopa were of the view that the committee should invite more “parties of interest”.

Democratic Alliance (DA) MP Benedicta Van Minnen highlighted that there were a lot of contradictory statements made when question were posed to those who appeared before Scopa.

“It is, to a certain extent, quite difficult to draw firm conclusions or recommendations from this,” Van Minnen said on Wednesday.

“I do think myself that there needs to be a parliamentary investigation into what is going because really what we are seeing is very contradictory… it’s a very muddled and, in a way, anecdotal situation that we are sitting with.”

READ MORE: De Ruyter spilled the beans on TV before reporting crime to police – Scopa told

African National Congress (ANC) Sakhumzi Somyo suggested that the committee summon Saps’ Brigadier Jaap Burger and recall Eskom’s board as well.

“I think there’s still a number of people that we have to give an opportunity and interview as far as the whole saga is concern. It might be premature to say this is the route that we must probably take going forward,” Somyo said.

It was heard in previous meeting that national police commissioner Fannie Masemola designated Burger as De Ruyter’s contact person in the police with whom he could share the intelligence gathered about organised crime at Eskom.

Watch the meeting below:

Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) Veronica Mente supported her colleagues and asked for De Ruyter to be subpoenaed to force him to fully answer questions from MPs.

“He failed in every aspect of leading Eskom now he is telling us that certain individuals were stealing out of Eskom,” she said.

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

Mente questioned whether De Ruyter himself receiving kickbacks as a result of the criminal activities at Eskom since he was not vetted by the State Security Agency (SSA).

“Why would he refuse with his financial documents? That for me is very problematic,” Mente said. “What if we were habouring a criminal?”

Last week, Gordhan revealed that the former Eskom CEO refused to go through the mandatory SSA vetting process despite being at the helm of the power utility for three years.

List

Following the discussions, Scopa resolved to compile a list of names of people who should appear before the committee.

So far the list includes Auditor-General, Tsakani Maluleke, and Presidency director-general Phindile Baleni.

Scopa chairperson Mkhuleko Hlengwa suggested that Business Leadership of South Africa (BLSA) CEO Busisiwe Mavuso also be called by the committee.

“I would also add former board member of Ms Mavuso because of the intelligence report as some knew about it and some didn’t,” he said.

The BLSA is said to have funded the private intelligence investigation, which cost R50 million.

Hlengwa said “a protracted engagement” was needed with Burger as he was “common denominator” in the Eskom investigations.

He added that the final list will be completed on Friday, with President Cyril Ramaphosa’s national security adviser, Sydney Mufamadi, to appear before the committee on the same day.

NOW READ: Hawks not investigating any politician over Eskom corruption