Former Eskom CEO André de Ruyter
Parliament's Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) says it plans to call former Eskom CEO André de Ruyter to appear before the committee again, along with several other people, as it continues its probe into corruption allegations at the company.
Following allegations by De Ruyter in a television interview in February that corruption was rife at Eskom and that the African National Congress was looting the company, the committee has been looking into the matter.
De Ruyter, who at his last appearance at Scopa refused to answer all the questions and would not name the two "senior politicians" he claimed were implicated in corruption, will face another harsh inquisition by the committee. MPs are outraged that De Ruyter refused to be fully vetted by the State Security Agency but was the CEO of an entity that is a national key point.
This time he may be subpoenaed, which will compel him to answer fully or face a charge of contempt of Parliament.
Committee chairperson Mkhuleko Hlengwa said this would be decided later once the committee had its final list of people it wanted to call. The complete list will be made final on Friday.
So far, in addition to De Ruyter, the committee has suggested calling the Eskom board for a second time, the Auditor-General, the director-general in the Presidency Phindile Baleni, Business Leadership CEO Busi Mavuso – whose organisation funded the intelligence reports commissioned by De Ruyter – and General Jap Burger of the SAPS.
Hlengwa said that "a protracted engagement" was needed with Burger, who had turned out to be a central player in the intelligence collection events. Burger had been designated by police National Commissioner Fannie Masemola as De Ruyter's contact person in the police with whom he could share the intelligence gathered.
On Friday, President Cyril Ramaphosa's national security adviser Sydney Mufamadi will appear before the committee.