Police commissioner accused of misleading parliament over Eskom intelligence report meeting

The senior police officer tasked by the national police commissioner to look into a private intelligence investigation into criminal activity at Eskom says the commissioner misrepresented his reasons for not attending a sitting in parliament in June.

Brig Jaap Burger was asked to appear at one of a series of engagements by standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) over allegations by former Eskom CEO André de Ruyter regarding the involvement of senior politicians in crime and corruption at the state-owned utility.

De Ruyter first made the allegations during an interview on eNCA on February 21, saying they were based on information from a private intelligence investigation into criminal activity at Eskom.

Police commissioner Fannie Masemola told the standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) on June 7 he had instructed Burger attend the meeting and didn’t know why Burger had failed to appear. “He raised some [security] concerns about him appearing publicly, but I said he should still appear [for the meeting],” Masemola said at the time.

In a letter to the speaker of parliament, seen by Business Day, Burger said he met Masemola on June 5 to “express my concerns in attending the Scopa meeting”, but Masemola failed to inform Scopa of Burger’s reasons for not attending,  including concerns about Scopa’s authority to consider matters related to criminal investigations.

“The role of Scopa is to consider matters of financial nature ... this does not and should not include criminal investigations into organised crime and corruption,” Burger wrote.

Burger argued that parliamentary oversight on matters relating to Eskom as a national security concern is primarily vested in the joint standing committee on intelligence, as well as portfolio committees for police, justice and correctional services, and public enterprises.

“None of the concerns raised in Scopa were, according to my knowledge, referred to any of these oversight committees that have appropriate procedures to deal with national security matters,” he said.

Burger said investigations into organised crime and corruption relating to matters of national security are classified and therefore not available for public or political scrutiny until presented in court.

“Based on the above-mentioned legal frameworks and concerns, I have communicated that I was unfortunately not in a position to attend the Scopa meeting on June 7,” Burger said. “The national commissioner, however, appears not to have communicated my position to the Scopa meeting, but alluded to Scopa that he does not know where I am and that I was scared to appear before Scopa.”

Burger was scheduled to appear before Scopa again on Tuesday, but Masemola informed the committee in a letter that Burger retired at the end of June and wouldn’t be able to attend.

DA MP Benedicta van Minnen said she was “deeply concerned” about assertions in Burger’s letter that Masemola had misled a committee of parliament.

“It highlights a reluctance to be held accountable, casts doubt on their ability to act on their mandate, and the commissioner should resign,” Van Minnen said.

“The ANC blocked the call of the DA for a parliamentary ad hoc committee to investigate the issues pertaining to Eskom and thus have effectively hobbled any other way to investigate this national crisis,” she said.

Correction: September 12 2023

An earlier version of this story said the letter was sent to Scopa, it was in fact sent to the speaker of parliament.

erasmusd@businesslive.co.za