Former Eskom CEO, Andre de Ruyter, is on Wednesday set to appear before the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) to shed light on the alleged corruption at the state-owned power utility.
After ANC MP Bheki Hadebe called for a parliamentary inquiry into the corruption allegations at Eskom, Scopa decided to hear from former CEO first.
Parliament media officer Faith Ndenze stated that Scopa received a letter from Hadebe requesting De Ruyter to urgently provide more information on the allegations he made during a TV interview.
Said Parliament media officer Faith Ndenze: “Following Mr. André de Ruyter’s interview on eNCA, [Scopa] received a letter from Mr. Bheki Hadebe, MP requesting the committee to urgently invite the former Eskom Group Chief Executive Officer, to provide more information regarding the allegations he made at the interview that aired on 23 February 2023.
“On 17 March 2023, Scopa invited Mr de Ruyter to brief the committee and he acceded to the invitation. The committee has scheduled a physical meeting for Wednesday, 26 April 2023. Mr de Ruyter will however appear before the committee virtually.”
De Ruyter had made explosive allegations in a TV interview in February regarding theft, coal cartels, and sabotage during his tenure at Eskom, pointing at senior politicians.
He noted, at the time, that the ANC was using the entity as a “feeding trough,” and claimed that around R1 billion was stolen from Eskom monthly.
“My rough estimate of what is stolen from Eskom is about R1-billion a month and we’ve made some inroads. We have started closing the taps and that does not make you any friends. It is difficult to speculate on who might have wanted to make an attempt on my life, but the people with a motive, there is a pretty long list,” he said in the explosive interview.
Based on his testimony on Wednesday, MPs will decide whether or not to initiate an inquiry.
De Ruyter resigned in December 2022, with an effective date of March 2023, to ensure a smooth transition, but was shown the door at an urgent Eskom board meeting after the TV interview aired.
Calib Cassim, the CFO of Eskom, was subsequently appointed interim CEO of the entity “until further notice” following the resignation of former CEO Andre de Ruyter.
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