Cape Town – The South African Federation of Trade Unions (SAFTU) says it will file a criminal case against former Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter for allegedly failing to report corruption during his tenure.
“Saftu will be laying charges against André de Ruyter tomorrow March 6 (today) at the Hillbrow police station at 14:00 for contravening Sect 4 of Precca (Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act). He clearly has not laid charges against people he won’t name, that allegedly used Eskom as a feeding trough,” IOL quoted Saftu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi as saying on Sunday.
This came after De Ruyter reportedly failed to respond to Saftu’s letter, requesting that further information be provided to authorities on alleged criminal activities at Eskom.
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Last month, Saftu called on De Ruyter to report and provide evidence on claims he made about the alleged inner workings and criminality at the power utility.
Vavi said at the time that the union’s concern stemmed from their affiliations at Eskom and other industries that relied on a stable electricity supply, Times Live reported.
“Thousands of our members have been plunged into unemployment and deeper poverty after retrenchments caused by load-shedding. Theft from Eskom also affects employees’ wages, their health and training budgets and job security, and Saftu has a direct and substantial interest in dealing with the terrible corruption you describe and bringing those responsible to account,” the report quoted Vavu as saying at the time.
In a recent interview on etv’s My Guest Tonight with Annika Larsen, De Ruyter revealed the depths of corruption at the power utility. He claimed that those involved in corruption at the company would hide their supercars in order to pass lifestyle audits.
“Eskom is a feeding trough for the ANC!
The ANC wanted to eat the R8.5billion we got from, COP27.
There is a minister who knows this. There is another minister who is eating.”
— André de Ruyter spits fire & propaganda on his way out— pic.twitter.com/vp4JFfA1uF
— Constitution First ?? (@Constitution_94) February 22, 2023
De Ruyter, who took over as CEO in 2020, parted ways with Eskom prematurely recently despite being due to leave the company at the end of March.
The shock announcement was made by Eskom shortly after the interview with Larson, during which De Ruyter described the state-owned utility as “a feeding trough for the ANC”.
De Ruyter estimated that around R1 billion was stolen from Eskom every month.
He said that his efforts to rid Eskom of corruption were rewarded with an attempt on his life. He was allegedly poisoned with cyanide in December 2022.
De Ruyter was also asked if Eskom was a feeding trough for the ANC, and he said that it was.
“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.
“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.
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Picture: Twitter/@AnnikaLarsen1
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Compiled by Betha Madhomu
