President Cyril Ramaphosa finally broke his silence on the bombshell allegations made by former Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter implicating senior politicians and powerful cartels in corruption which he alleged was at the root of the problems at the power utility.
During a media briefing while hosting Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni for a state visit at the Union Buildings in Pretoria on Tuesday, Ramaphosa was asked to respond to De Ruyter’s controversial television interview.
Ramaphosa told journalists that government was “most concerned” about De Ruyter’s utterances and urged him to approach the independent institutions armed with resources to investigate his claims.
He said that after hearing the interview, he immediately thought why didn’t De Ruyter, “being a person at a level of General CEO”, report to any of those institutions.
"With the info he purports to have, there are institutions that are independent where there will be no form of interference, where there will not be any form of diversion, blockage or any form of sabotage.
“Whatever malfeasance that he has knowledge of, those are the types of institutions that he should have trusted. I have a great deal of faith and trust in those institutions and once the complaints are lodged, they have the full capability to investigate,” Ramaphosa said.
He said he felt it was a “missed opportunity” for De Ruyter.
In an hour-long interview on eTV’s My Guest Tonight with Annika Larsen, De Ruyter spoke about what he thought were the underlying causes of Eskom’s continued struggle with corruption and poor performance.
De Ruyter made allegations against senior ministers and others allegedly privy to the corruption at the state power utility. He also implicated the ANC in corruption at Eskom, but gave no further evidence or details.
Ramaphosa also called on De Ruyter to come forward with all details of his allegations mentioned in the televised interview.
“He can go to those [independent] institutions and report whatever he knows so that the investigative processes can then commence. Also, so that all of us are better informed, because without doing so, we are in a world of rumours, hearsay and then we start looking at each (other) with a great deal of suspicion,” Ramaphosa said.
kailene.pillay@inl.co.za
Current Affairs