Parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) is to investigate a complaint against Eskom CEO Andre De Ruyter by suspended Chief Procurement Officer, Solly Tshitangano.
The committee received a letter in which Tshitangano accuses De Ruyter of purging black suppliers and using racism to deal with them.
He was suspended last week, for alleged failure to perform his duties. This however comes on the back of a letter he wrote to the Board and to the Minister of Public Enterprises, accusing the CEO of racism and attempts to purge black suppliers from Eskom’s database.
The Standing Committee of Public Accounts will conduct an inquiry into procurement deviations and other issues that have also been flagged by the Special Investigating Unit at Eskom.
Scopa was scheduled to receive a briefing from Eskom on issues of SIU investigations and deviations and expansions as reflected in the company’s annual report. But the meeting was suspended.
Members felt that it would serve no purpose if the Chief Procurement Officer was not available to answer questions regarding his areas of responsibility.
“The allegations are very serious, and so, the CEO will have to be afforded an opportunity to address us and respond to the allegations that have been made against him. So, we will put the issues that have been raised to him. So, I think that the committee’s investigative process must ensue on this matter given the importance of Eskom. It is very very urgent,” says Committee Chairperson, Mkhuleko Hlengwa.
Parliament to go ahead with inquiry into procurement irregularities at Eskom:
Chairperson of Eskom, Prof Malegapuru Makgoba explains, “The reasons for this letter arose when the Chief Executive Officer confronted Mr Tshitangano about his performance.”
The Minister of Public Enterprises Pravin Gordhan is also behind the CEO on the issue. “One of the difficult jobs of any CEO and perhaps even a Board is to ensure that managers firstly, that report to him directly, secondly managers at a third or fourth level, perform according to their brief and their role definition…
“At this stage Chair, I think it’s important that none of what anybody is saying means that aspersions are being cast on the integrity of the board or the CEO at this time,” Gordhan says.
In the video below, Eskom CEO Andre De Ruyter discusses utility’s current state of affairs:
