ANC rejects DA proposal for parliamentary ad hoc committee on Eskom
The ANC has rejected a DA proposal to set up a dedicated ad hoc committee to investigate the allegations of fraud, corruption and sabotage at Eskom made by former CEO André de Ruyter and in intelligence reports.
Most opposition parties including the EFF, IFP, FF+, ACDP, UDM and ATM supported the motion for an ad hoc committee proposed by DA leader John Steenhuisen.
The National Assembly will decide on the DA’s motion next Thursday.
The rejection of the motion by the ANC heralded another failure by parliament to hold the executive and government entities to account, said Steenhuisen. He noted the Zondo commission of inquiry into state capture highlighted the failure of parliament to play its oversight role during the years of state capture.
The non-acceptance of the DA motion by the ANC opens the way for the standing committee on public accounts to hold its inquiry into De Ruyter’s allegations. It decided this week to await the outcome of the debate before proceeding with its own processes so as not to duplicate the work of an ad hoc committee were one to be established. It did agree, however, to invite De Ruyter to make a written submission about his allegations.
Steenhuisen said that “only a parliamentary inquiry can give a proper platform and protection to those innocent people who know what is happening at Eskom and who have been threatened and subdued into silence by the connected syndicates that extend right into the upper reaches of government.
“Those with information must not be assassinated like Babita Deokaran or poisoned (with cyanide in his coffee) like André de Ruyter. They need the full protection of a parliamentary inquiry if we are to know the truth. And given De Ruyter’s poisoning, there is clearly a determined effort to stop the truth from coming out.
“The reports tell us that four criminal cartels are operating inside Eskom, plundering its resources, bleeding it dry, and bringing the country to its knees.”
Intelligence reports, Steenhuisen said, linked two senior cabinet members to these cartels which they controlled.
But ANC MPs argued an ad hoc committee was not necessary and rejected assertions the party was complicit in the corruption. ANC MP Mikateko Mahlaule said normal oversight functions of parliament by its portfolio committees had not broken down and they could probe the allegations and establish the facts. He said there was a tendency for opposition parties to call for the establishment of ad hoc committees on all kinds of issues without any prima facie evidence for the allegations.
ANC chair of the public enterprises committee Khayalethu Magaxa said Eskom was itself proactively dealing with corruption and fraud and established a state capture task team to deal with the recommendations of the Zondo commission. It was working with the police, Special Investigating Unit, State Security Agency and the National Prosecuting Authority.
Magaxa said it was the responsibility of the Eskom board and law enforcement agencies to tackle corruption and the role of the portfolio committees of mineral resources and energy, public enterprises and Scopa (standing committee on public accounts) were well capacitated to exercise oversight over the Eskom task team.
But DA member of the public enterprises committee Ghaleb Cachalia said the committee was just a rubber stamp for the government while FF+ leader Pieter Groenewald said that he was not aware of any portfolio committee investigation on De Ruyter’s allegations.
Magaza accused De Ruyter of behaving as a “spoilt rich child with his childish allegations” while ANC MP Jabulile Mkhwanazi said the allegations of the former Eskom CEO were “sour grapes” and that an ad hoc committee would not do better than the Zondo commission and the Eskom task team.
DA deputy finance spokesperson Ashor Sarupen said the ANC’s “disappointing” performance during the debate was yet another example of scapegoating, obfuscation, blame-shifting and denial when it came to issues of corruption and accountability”.
“Parliament has a duty, when allegations of cartels linked to senior politicians are made, to probe this matter deeply — to summon documentation, to examine the evidence, to hold members of the executive to account, and to make findings accordingly. But this does not suit the ANC. The ANC has systematically neutered parliament and created an imperial executive,” Sarupen said.