Cape Town – The head of the legal team at the state capture inquiry, Paul Pretorius, has reportedly said that claims by former Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter should have been investigated by the government when they were first made.
De Ruyter has come under fire after he failed to provide names and even more details following an explosive interview with eNCA.
During the interview, De Ruyter was asked if Eskom was a feeding trough for the ANC, and he said that it was.
He alleged that a “high-ranking politician” was directly involved in corruption.
“I would say the evidence suggests that it is. I expressed my concern to a senior government minister about attempts, in my view, to water down governance around the 8.5 billion USD that, by in large through Eskom’s intervention, we got at COP26.
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“And the response was essentially, ‘you have to be pragmatic. In order to pursue the greater good, you have to enable some people to eat a little bit’,” De Ruyter said.
However, when he appeared before the Parliament’s standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) and was asked by ANC MP Bheki Hadebe to name the high-ranking official who was involved in corruption at Eskom, he said he was not at liberty to do so for legal reasons.
“It would not be appropriate for me divulge the identity of that minister because it can be construed as general approval or support of the corruption and theft that is still ongoing at Eskom,” he said.
In March, President Cyril Ramaphosa said that the government was “most concerned” about De Ruyter’s remarks.
Ramaphosa urged De Ruyter to approach independent institutions so that his claims could be investigated, media reports said.
“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.
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“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,” IOL quoted Ramaphosa as saying.
Ramaphosa questioned why De Ruyter, “being a person at a level of general CEO”, did not report the matter to law enforcement institutions who “are armed with resources to investigate his claims”, News24 reported.
According to EWN, Advocate Pretorius on Monday said the approach by authorities was incorrect.
“You don’t say to De Ruyter, only when you have been to a police station and laid a complaint about a specific crime, will we listen to you – that’s nonsense. There must be a comprehensive anti-corruption strategy.”
Pretorius added that high-level attention must be given following such claims: “At a strategic and high level for any anti-corruption effort to be effective and that is what is missing”.
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Compiled by Betha Madhomu
