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Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan in parliament on Wednesday. Photo: News24/YouTube
- In an appearance before Scopa, Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan was scathing about former Eskom CEO André de Ruyter.
- He accused De Ruyter of collecting gossip for his book instead of focusing on running the utility.
- Gordhan says the former CEO’s narrative is that the "only hero in SA is De Ruyter".
- For more financial news, go to the News24 Business front page.
Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan sharply criticised former Eskom CEO André de Ruyter on Wednesday, saying he let the country down.
Gordhan was addressing the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) after De Ruyter, law enforcement agencies and current and former Eskom board members appeared to discuss the allegations of corruption levelled by the former CEO in his controversial eNCA interview.
De Ruyter has also just released a combative new book, Truth to Power: My Three Years Inside Eskom, which is scathing about the ANC government and its ministers.
READ | 'Tony Soprano of the power industry': Choice quotes from the De Ruyter memoir
At the committee meeting, Gordhan said he wondered whether others ran things at Eskom while De Ruyter was focused on collecting gossip. He also questioned whether the former CEO recorded conversations he had with everyone.
"Was he more interested in writing a book that would mask his legacy in terms of performance as far as Eskom is concerned?"
Gordhan says the former CEO’s narrative is that the "only hero in SA is De Ruyter", adding:
The rest of us are fools... the rest of us are in nappies.
Gordhan said he was "shocked" by De Ruyter's interview with eNCA in February. De Ruyter told eNCA that he had evidence that a "senior politician" was involved in corruption at Eskom. In his new book, De Ruyter claimed that he had told Gordhan of this allegation, but that the minister was not shocked and said that "it was inevitable that it would come out".
'Egotistical trip'
De Ruyter’s allegations were based on intelligence reports that were funded by the private sector and conducted by George Fivaz Forensic and Risk. Investigations by News24 found that the reports were loaded with political conspiracies and unverifiable information.
Gordhan said that everybody is going to learn "serious lessons" after the Fivaz saga - business for funding it and the media for publishing the reports. The question is whether there is material in it for law agencies to act on it, he added.
He also took umbrage with the narrative that De Ruyter is a whistleblower, saying he was "not a little guy" that is being attacked.
"If you are in charge the buck stops with you.
"(This) egotistical trip he is on at the moment is not serving him or the country in any positive way. And any notion that he has, that he is this messianic or heroic figure that is on one hand going to condemn all of us but on the other hand be the saviour… is a misplaced area of focus on his part."
EFF MP Ntombovuyo Veronica Mente asked Gordhan whether the decision to hire De Ruyter was a mistake.
READ | Carol Paton | De Ruyter's last stand was a good one for the country
"It could have been a very good choice, it could have been a very bad choice, but you don't know how human beings are going to behave at a particular point in time. So what appears good at one stage, might turn out to be terrible or horrible … at another time," Gordhan said.
"Was it a mistake? As we understood it then, it wasn't. Today, if one has to be very polite, he has let himself down very badly, he has the institution down very badly, and he has let the country down very badly."
Gordhan said De Ruyter did good things during his time in charge, especially the work he did in relation to the just energy transition was good - but added that he was a "lone ranger".
"Any attempt by smearing people outside in order to justify himself would at the end of the day come across pretty poorly."
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