Former Eskom CEO, Andre de Ruyter.
Out of the darkness, the former CEO of ailing state owned power utility, Eskom, Andre De Ruyter has emerged as he is set to appear virtually before parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) on Wednesday.
According to reports, the former Eskom boss says that he probably underestimated the R1 billion being stolen from the power utility when he spoke during an explosive interview earlier this year on eNCA.
He was given the boot by the board well before his term as CEO was set to end.
Many government officials were scrambling to deal with the fallout from De Ruyter’s claims he made during the interview, as Eskom continues to impose harsh power cuts on the country with varying stages of load shedding.
“This is, if anything, a conservative estimate and is based on my assessment of the losses suffered by Eskom that have come to my attention,” De Ruyter said in a written submission to lawmakers ahead of his Scopa appearance on Wednesday, Bloomberg reported.
Meanwhile, Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy Gwede Mantashe has hit back at De Ruyter, asking him to name and shame ministers allegedly implicated in corruption at Eskom.
Mantashe said the former Eskom CEO’s tactic of dropping allegations wouldn’t work because he had not named anyone.
The ruling party, the ANC, in March, stuck to its guns in saying it wanted De Ruyter to come clean on the allegations he made about corruption at the power utility.
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