Former Eskom board interim board chairperson, Professor Malegapuru Makgoba has backed ex-CEO Andre de Ruyter on his claims about the private intelligence-driven operation at the power utility to crack down on crime and corruption.
Makgoba told members of the standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) that he, as well as President Cyril Ramaphosa’s national security adviser Sydney Mufamadi and Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan were aware of this private intelligence operation led by former national police commissioner George Fivaz in July.
He added that Ramaphosa cited the work of the intelligence operation in his 2023 State of the Nation Address, where he said it led to the arrest of 43 people involved in corruption, theft and sabotage at Eskom.
Makgoba was briefing Scopa on Wednesday on what he knew about some of the damning allegations by De Ruyter.
He slammed the shoddy work of the SAPS and the Hawks, who were “lackadaisical” in their approach.
“If the SAPS and the Hawks had done their work effectively and efficiently, we would not be meeting here as a committee. The issue that De Ruyter undertook was an operational matter because Eskom, at the time, was besieged with sabotage and corruption, and we were not getting any mileage from law enforcement agencies,” said Makgoba.
He said a frustrated De Ruyter also raised this issue with a senior official in the National Prosecuting Authority.
“As a board, we were concerned that our crown jewel was [being] destroyed when we had a security cluster that seemed to be asleep.”
body copy_bold: Regarding the appointment of Fivaz, he said: “We left this matter to De Ruyter as part of management because we regarded them as operational to deal with.”
“De Ruyter did inform me. I know on July 5, De Ruyter did inform Mufamadi and Pravin Gordhan. On July 26, De Ruyter took [Bheki] Cele, Gordhan, and [Gwede] Mantashe to Tutuka to see what corruption and sabotage in a power station means.”
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