‘Mpumalanga is a crime scene’ – Gordhan on Eskom graft
Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan has repeated assertions by Eskom’s board that claims of corruption at the power utility are nothing new.
Gordhan told this to the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) while clarifying his knowledge and involvement in the claims made by the utility’s former CEO, as well as the covert private investigation report upon which he based the allegations.
He said most of the claims were revealed and investigated through the commission of inquiry into state capture.
“Corruption has been around for a long time. Some elements have been dealt with; other elements still need to be dealt with. We need to recognise that as far back as 2017 Scopa held an inquiry into Eskom and its report was adopted by the national assembly late in 2018.
“In 2019 we are all familiar with both the processes and the outcomes of institutions like Eskom and the extent to which state capture damaged the institution.”
He said, while what he refers to as ‘state capture one’ was receiving attention from the relevant authorities, corruption is continuing.
“It’s quite clear, chairperson, that whereas what I call state capture has been concluded – although many are still to face the consequences of that – state capture two, in different forms and on a smaller scale but perhaps even with significant amounts of money being lost.”
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As the country grapples with stage 4 and 6 load shedding, the minister admitted past and current acts of corruption in the past are major contributors to the energy crisis.
“I’ve stated publicly that Mpumalanga is certainly a crime scene. There are lots of actors both within and outside of Eskom who are collaborating to undermine procurement and other processes, supply counterfeit parts, and do a poor job in terms of maintenance of units when they have outages.
“All of that is done to ensure that they get more work and make more money. The relentless greed that drives people in this direction continues on an unmitigated basis.”
Gordhan, however, said he cannot say with certainty that corruption costs Eskom R1 billion a month, as claimed by De Ruyter in his affidavit to Scopa.
He said it was no secret that the governing African National Congress (ANC) had been linked to corrupt activities at Eskom, through the likes of Chancellor House, but warned that politicising corruption would not assist in addressing the problem.
He warned the public and the committee that, with the country’s general elections set to take place next year, there would be political goal-scoring and character assassinations.
“From the little I have heard while I have been away about some of the proceedings here, clearly, it’s also the governing party that is under attack; and of course, it suits the purposes of electioneering to be in that mode. What we do require is to set aside the politics from making Eskom work.”
Meanwhile, the Democratic Alliance’s Benedicta van Minnen has accused Gordhan of marginalising De Ruyter and failing to accept accountability as Eskom’s shareholder.
“This culture of evasion is reinforced by the undeniable link between the systemic corruption within the ANC and structural corruption within Eskom. Gordhan's attempts to obfuscate responsibility by painting a picture of a ‘good ANC’ and ‘bad ANC’ only serve to deflect attention from the core issues.
“His admission of an insufficient separation between party and state, coupled with his inability to deny links between the ANC’s investment arm, Chancellor House, and corruption at Eskom, underline the severity of this problem.”
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