Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana
Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana says that former Eskom CEO André de Ruyter "was economical with the truth" in his comments about corruption at Eskom in a recent interview.
The interview, which was screened on eNCA on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings, led to De Ruyter's immediate departure from Eskom at the board's request.
Answering questions from MPs in Parliament on Thursday on the Budget, Godogwana said, "The [former] CEO of Eskom was economical with the truth because when he raised the issue of corruption at Eskom, particularly in Mpumalanga, an investigation was done, and indeed some syndicates were operating, which also included police. The government set up a task team and moved into Megawatt Park and arrested a number of people. So, I find it difficult to accept his statement [that nothing was done]."
Godongwana also briefed MPs on the debt solution for Eskom. The bailout will see the Treasury take over R254-billion in debt repayments and interest costs for the next three years and take over R70-billion of loan debt. The bailout will take the form of an interest-free loan with conditions attached.
"We have appointed an independent team to assess Eskom to give us a better understanding and to say exactly what conditions to attach to the loan. We will get to the bottom of the issues," he said.
The independent consortium of consultants will be led by Vgbe Energy and includes several global engineering consulting firms. Vgbe has previously worked with Eskom.