Cape Town - Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan may have erased the little that is left of his credibility with his comment that he was aware of now axed Eskom chief executive Andre de Ruyter’s allegations about a minister involved in malfeasance, and did nothing because they were rumours or speculation.
His admission confirms everything you need to know about how serious this administration is about the fight against corruption.
It also confirms that Gordhan picks up easy battles to fight insofar as corruption is concerned, but turns his back when informed that a Cabinet colleague was implicated in corruption.
De Ruyter implicated an unnamed minister in alleged corruption during an interview with news channel eNCA.
Apparently this minister had told him that “in order to pursue the greater good, you have to enable some people to eat a little bit”.
It has now come to light that Gordhan knew of this and did nothing. In fact he, like De Ruyter, still refuses to disclose the name of this minister, rendering both of them complicit in corruption.
“We cannot rely on rumour, suspicion or what even certain publications call intelligence. There’s a distinction between that and evidence.
If Mr De Ruyter has the evidence, which I don’t know, he must take the initiative and do what is legally required of him,” Gordhan said.
Judging by these comments, the minister appears to be doing the opposite of what he has always preached – fighting corruption and state capture.
In fact it can be argued that his comments show a lack of political will and appetite to tackle the entrenched malfeasance at Eskom.
Gordhan cannot simply brush these serious allegations aside and think they will go away. He has a responsibility to get to the bottom of De Ruyter’s claims.
Gordhan had to make sure that the public knew he was not the minister that De Ruyter implicated in his interview, but in the process of trying to clear his name, he ended up proving that he is selective about the information he is given.
Had the implicated person been Brian Molefe or Matshela Koko et al, Gordhan would have been the first to approach our law enforcement agencies.
And, as always is the case, do not be shocked that his boss President Cyril Ramaphosa is shocked by all of this.
Cape Times