The Democratic Alliance (DA) said on Friday the nation has a right to know the name of the Minister implicated in Eskom corruption ahead of the long-awaited Cabinet reshuffle, and the party wants President Cyril Ramaphosa to come clean about the information he knew.

Last month, former Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter dropped a bombshell during a television interview saying there were high-level African National Congress (ANC) politicians and Ministers involved in the corruption at the ailing State-owned enterprise. 

“The nation has a right to know who these implicated Ministers are, especially ahead of the long-awaited Cabinet reshuffle. And they have a right to expect that swift action will be taken to arrest these perpetrators and end the corruption and sabotage that is plunging their businesses into bankruptcy and their lives into darkness and despair,” said DA leader John Steenhuisen.

Ramaphosa postponed an ANC meeting on Thursday, which was meant to finalise his Cabinet appointments, further delaying the appointment of the much-talked-about Minister of Electricity.

Steenhuisen pointed to news reports on Friday, which revealed that amid calls by the ANC for De Ruyter to go to law enforcement with information, the former CEO had actually briefed Ramaphosa’s national security advisor Sydney Mufamadi and Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan, in the presence of one of Gordhan’s advisors, at Eskom’s head office in the past.

“It is not possible that Ramaphosa would not have been briefed by a single one of these Ministers who report directly to him. It is therefore clear that Ramaphosa has known about the identities of these Ministers in his Cabinet for a full eight months, and that he has therefore not only lied to the nation, but has seriously compromised himself and let the nation down yet again,” Steenhuisen said.

As a result, he said it's even more of a reason for the DA to be granted its request for an urgent ad hoc parliamentary committee to investigate De Ruyter’s dismaying allegations.