Cape Town — South Africa’s Power Utility Eskom has reportedly asked for an extension on the 7-day deadline given to them by the ANC after its former CEO Andre De Ruyter accused the party of being involved in corruption at the utility.
In an interview with eNCA, De Ruyter alleged that Eskom is a feeding trough for the ANC.
“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.
The former CEO said that when he approached a minister to report a high-level politician involved in corruption, this particular minister said, “I guess it was inevitable that it would come out anyway”.
He added that the politician was still acting as a member of parliament.
ALSO READ | ANC takes legal action against Eskom and De Ruyter
After President Cyril Ramaphosa expressed concern at the allegations made by De Ruyter, ANC Secretary-general Fikile Mbalula said that his party had served Eskom and De Ruyter with legal papers.
According to News24, Eskom’s group executive for legal and compliance, Mel Govender wrote a letter in which she said that an investigation needed to commence before the utility was able to respond to the ANC.
“The interview by Mr De Ruyter contained a number of serious allegations. You will appreciate that the responsible course of action for Eskom is to evaluate these allegations and to establish all the relevant facts,” the report quoted Govender as saying.
“Eskom must consider what actions it must take having regard to the determination of the facts. This may take some time and accordingly, Eskom cannot commit to giving you the response you have sought from Eskom.”
According to the report, Eskom would inform the ANC as soon as it is in a position to speak about the allegations.
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Compiled by Junaid Benjamin
