The Black Management Forum (BMF) has called for the immediate suspension of Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter amid an investigation over racism allegations.
The allegations were levelled against him by suspended chief procurement officer, Solly Tshitangano.
Tshitangano accuses De Ruyter of purging black suppliers and using racism to deal with them. He also accuses De Ruyter of attempting to purge black suppliers from Eskom’s database.
But De Ruyter has denied all the accusations, saying he would cooperate fully with an investigation about him.
Tshitangano was suspended on claims of misconduct.
BMF president Andile Nomlala says, “There is an inherent risk that the presence of the person being investigated, especially at the CEO level, will influence the witness. This is a basic governance rule that any board member should be aware of. If the gentleman is found guilty of the allegations, that would mean that you left him to remain there. That is the issue here.”
Eskom internal executive management matters:
Last week, Eskom said in a new statement: “The allegation not only brings Eskom into disrepute, but it also threatens to detract and distract the focus of the Executive Team and the GCE (Group Chief Executive) in particular from their critical job of restoring Eskom to operational and financial sustainability.”
It said the board would appoint an independent senior lawyer to test the allegation of racism and provide updates on the investigation.
De Ruyter would not be commenting for now but would be given an opportunity to respond by the lawyer, the spokesman added.
The utility is choking under a mountain of debt and regularly implements scheduled power outages that are one of the main obstacles to economic growth in Africa’s most industrialised nation. -Additional reporting by Reuters
