Get rid of ANC government to stop Eskom corruption – Mthunzi Luthuli

Engineer and energy expert Mthunzi Luthuli said the only way to truly rid Eskom of corruption is for a new political administration to take over.

Luthuli told Newzroom Afrika that many people involved in Eskom corruption are connected to the ANC, “and the ANC is not going to prosecute itself”. 

He referred to claims made by former Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter to illustrate this point.

During his tenure as Eskom CEO, De Ruyter undertook a private investigation of corruption at the utility, which implicated top government officials.

While this investigation has since come under scrutiny, before he departed from the utility, De Ruyter told eNCA that he reported his findings to a Minister.

He said the Minister did not seem concerned about these findings and seemed to know about the extent of corruption at the utility. 

On Tuesday, 8 November, Minister Pravin Gordhan spoke before Parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) alongside Eskom management, including acting CEO Calib Cassim.  

The Minister and Eskom’s management were expected to give an update on implementing Scopa’s recommendations to the utility to improve governance and performance. 

When asked if anything had changed since he had last been before Scopa, Gordhan said that sweeping changes have occurred at Eskom. 

Eskom’s new board has come up to speed, and a “fair amount of cleaning up is going on following the findings of the Zondo Commission”, Gordhan said. 

“There have been a few lapses on the forensic side, but the board is beginning to attend to those.”

At the meeting, the Scopa chairperson asked for a list of names of the people who have been implicated in corruption at the utility.

In response, Gordon said the executive must be cautious in revealing these names. 

“So, on the one hand, Gordhan says, ‘Yes, we are trying to fight crime in Eskom’, but he says the nice words and issues a good-sounding statement,” Luthuli said.

“But in reality, if you look at what’s happening, there is no progress. In fact, the situation is getting worse. So, we must not be fooled by all the nice-sounding statements. No progress has been made.”