Eskom’s outgoing CEO, André de Ruyter, says despite significant control measures being implemented, corrupt activities continue at the power utility.
Eskom’s board and senior management are appearing before Parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts.
Eskom is currently implementing Stages 3 and 4 power cuts.
De Ruyter says there has been a lack of support from law enforcement agencies to assist with clamping down on corruption.
He says, “The corruption in coal also continues to today. We have implemented significant control measures to improve monitoring of coal. This corruption is entrenched. I found myself in the regrettable position to approach private donors to run an intelligence operation to gather intelligence on this corruption due to a lack of support from our law enforcement agencies. I have to, however, commend the steps that have been taken of late under the auspices of the NCCC that was established by the President.”
Power to the grid
De Ruyter added that the power utility intends on adding over 1 800 megawatts of power to the grid by the end of March, which is the equivalent of two stages of rolling blackouts.
“The three elements that we are looking at for our recovery plan comprises of three major pillars. The first one is a recovery in our energy availability factor. We anticipate that we would be able to return 1 862 megawatts to the grid by end of March of this year, which is equivalent to two stages of load shedding. We furthermore intend to add 6 000 megawatts over the next 24 months. But we need the skill, the money and the time.”
VIDEO: Eskom media briefing on current system challenges:
