President Cyril Ramaphosa has denied knowledge about senior politicians involved in corruption at Eskom following damning allegations by former CEO André de Ruyter.
Ramaphosa said because De Ruyter made the allegations, he had a duty to report them to law enforcement agencies to act, in line with the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act.
The former CEO of Eskom is expected to appear virtually before Parliament’s finance watchdog, the standing committee on public accounts, on Wednesday next week.
De Ruyter was invited by Scopa last month after he made allegations about massive looting, theft and corruption at Eskom.
Ramaphosa, who was replying to a written Parliamentary question from DA leader John Steenhuisen on Wednesday, said there were also many investigations going on at Eskom involving hundreds of millions of rand.
In some cases, the police have arrested people linked to corruption at the power utility.
He said the Special Investigating Unit, the Hawks and the National Prosecuting Authority having been probing corruption cases.
Some of the people who worked at Eskom were fired for corruption. This includes 25 former senior executives at the power utility.
However, he denied being briefed by his ministers and advisers on the high-ranking ANC politicians linked to corruption at Eskom.
“I was not briefed about the identities of people who are allegedly involved in cartels in Eskom. In terms of section 34 of the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act, I am advised that Mr De Ruyter is a ‘person who holds a position of authority’ as the chief executive officer of Eskom and therefore bears a duty to report corrupt transactions to any police official. Once any such person has presented evidence to an appropriate law enforcement agency, such agency should take whatever action it deems relevant,” said Ramaphosa.
He said a number of measures were being taken to crack down on corruption at Eskom.
This includes measures to recover R4.8 billion from former employees and suppliers.
Ramaphosa also said Eskom has been able to recover R2bn that was irregularly paid to service providers.
The other measures taken to fight corruption include the cancellation of coal supply agreements and construction agreements valued at R11bn.
There was legal action by Eskom that declared invalid coal supply agreements to the tune of R3.7bn.
The other action taken related to “preventing further losses of approximately R10bn to Eskom by setting aside other coal supply agreements and construction contracts; Eskom defending arbitrations brought by contractors with an approximate value of R7.2 billion; (and) Eskom pursuing claims with a value of approximately R4.8 billion against suppliers and former directors of Eskom”, said Ramaphosa.
These and other actions would ensure that those who were involved in corruption at Eskom face the law.
siyabonga.mkhwanazi@inl.co.za
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