Former Eskom chief executive André de Ruyter deliberately used apartheid-era agent Tony Oosthuizen to investigate allegations of corruption at the power utility because he wanted to paint a picture that “blacks cannot govern” and help right-wing elements to take over the government, says erstwhile Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) chairperson Themba Godi.
Godi has joined the growing number of politicians who have descended on De Ruyter following his failure to come clean on his highly publicised claims that senior ANC officials and a minister had used Eskom as their feeding trough.
When Scopa members pressed him for clarity this week, De Ruyter consistently refused to reveal names, citing issues of security and potential lawsuits against him. Instead, he directed the committee towards Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan and President Cyril Ramaphosa’s security advisor Sydney Mufamadi, saying the two men could shed more light because he disclosed everything to them.
However, Godi was not impressed. The African People’s Convention (APC) president believes De Ruyter was part of a larger plot to undermine black leadership in order to sway voters to endorse right-wing parties to take over the South African government.
“The choice of Tony Oosthuizen as the lead investigator of the clandestine investigation of corruption at Eskom by Andre de Ruyter was not a mistake. It was deliberate. It was on purpose. Like they say, ‘We shall know them by their friends’.
“Tony Oosthuizen is an apartheid spy who has the blood of freedom fighters dripping from his hands. He is known for his racist anti-black people and anti-transformation stance. Clearly, the outcome of an investigation by such a character would no doubt seek to reinforce the racist stereotypes that Africans are corrupt and are incapable of running a clean administration,” Godi told Sunday World on Friday.
According to Godi, De Ruyter displayed his true colours as far as South African politics are concerned.
“De Ruyter has come across as a right-winger who has a strong disdain for progressive ideas. It is a shock and a shame that the ANC leadership, including Cyril Ramaphosa, Pravin Gordhan and the rest of them saw something in this conservative and highly ungifted manager.
“They saw some commonality of values with him, and look what he did. I’m inclined to believe that his destruction and neglect of Eskom was very deliberate to serve racist ends and to promote white minority interests through renewables,” Godi said.
This came as Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA) finally admitted that it privately funded De Ruyter’s investigation into alleged corruption at the power utility in 2021.
The funding sparked its own controversy after it emerged that BLSA chief executive officer Busisiwe Mavuso approved the private funding while she was a board member of Eskom, which raises serious questions about conflict of interest.
The money that Mavuso approved was used to fund a George Fivaz Forensic and Risk (GFFR) investigation led by apartheid-era military agent, Tony Oosthuizen. George Fivas is former national police commissioner.
In a statement, BLSA conceded this week that it funded De Ruyter’s proposal to investigate criminality at Eskom.
“While BLSA was not involved in the selection of the service provider, we were comfortable with the appointment of George Fivaz Forensic and Risk, given George Fivaz’s reputation as a person of integrity and his ongoing collaboration with South African law enforcement authorities.
“BLSA provides technical, financial, and other forms of support to various branches of
government, statutory institutions, and NGOs in pursuit of the socio-economic growth and development objectives of all South Africans,” the organisation said.
Staffers at BLSA told Sunday World that they were unable to answer specific questions because Mavuso was on leave.
Despite providing his personal email address, GFFR spokesperson Friedel Fivaz did not respond to media questions sent to the address.
The ANC has also expressed shock at the Fivaz report, which they said implicated former deputy president David Mabuza and Minerals and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe in the alleged sabotage of Eskom “without any credible evidence”.
Spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri labelled De Ruyter’s actions as a deliberate act to de-campaign the ANC ahead of the 2024 polls.
“It is curious why a chief executive officer of a state-owned enterprise would go out of their way to affirm reports which are not grounded in an iota of evidence. This being the same Andre de Ruyter who accused the ANC of being out of touch with reality and instead stuck in a cold war era,” she said.
Bhengu-Motsiri called on Mavuso “to take the nation into confidence and reveal how much was paid to apartheid-era agents to launder ‘rooi gevaar‘ tactics and propaganda against ANC leaders”.
The South African Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu) general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said they were further alarmed that the flawed report also unduly implicated Russians in the Eskom sabotage.
“Funded by BLSA, the intelligence report concocted by this company made unfounded conclusions as evidence that Russians were behind the sabotages at Eskom. Proving that all this was a concoction. News24 reports that when journalists pressed Fivaz for proof behind the claims that Russia was involved in the sabotage of Eskom, former Police Commissioner ‘Fivaz admitted that the information was wrong,'” said Vavi.
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