Pravin Gordhan again blames state capture for unacceptable levels of load shedding

PUBLIC Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan has once again blamed state capture for the unacceptable levels of load shedding in the country, further hinting that there was perhaps a new version of state capture taking place.

Gordhan was responding to statements from Members of Parliament during a plenary session on Tuesday evening, where he was accused of making excuses for load shedding instead of fixing the problem.

This follows the abrupt stepping down of Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter last week, amid allegations he made during a TV interview that ministers were involved in corruption at the power utility, or at least condoning it.

“The EFF notes the recent utterances by former Eskom CEO Mr Andre de Ruyter who has claimed the ruling party is using Eskom as a feeding trough.

“De Ruyter claims senior party members are part of the group milking Eskom with illicit contracts to supply coal to the entity.

“He further claims he discovered this theft and reported it to a minister, whom we now know is Mr Gordhan,” said EFF MP Nazier Paulsen.

The MP suggested it was Gordhan who told De Ruyter to allow “people to eat a little” at Eskom.

“According to De Ruyter, Mr Gordhan then told him he must do his work and allow these senior members of the ruling party to loot Eskom.

“The hypocrisy of Mr Gordhan is astounding. For years, he has been claiming to be a clean person, fighting against the so-called elements that instigated state capture in the country.

“Even his attack on De Ruyter after the interview was hypocritical. Mr Gordhan has been supporting De Ruyter’s destructive reign at Eskom for years despite all the indications that they had deployed a very incompetent white man to oversee Eskom,” said Paulsen.

Gordhan took exception to the accusations from the EFF.

“On many occasions I have indicated that we should not trivialise either the energy crisis or corruption as a tool to be used politically.

“We need to collectively understand that corruption is a cancer, which we need to fight. We do that every day, in whatever way we can, depending on the evidence we have before us,” said Gordhan.

He warned those criticising ANC-led Cabinet ministers for failing to keep the lights on while being accused of using Eskom as their “trough”.

“Eskom is a critical institution. The State Capture report has certainly identified who is responsible for the worsening of the performance of Eskom.

“We are now on a path of recovery, and that recovery is not going to be easy when other forms of corruption continue.

“And we might as well call it State Capture 2,” Gordhan said.

The minister contended that political statements against corruption were not tantamount to evidence.

“There’s a difference between the political capital being made out of this issue versus credible evidence which can be placed before law enforcement agencies.

“The question that we all need to ask ourselves is, ‘Are all our hands clean? Can all of us say that nobody in any other political party is involved in any form whatsoever in damaging Eskom’s performance in Mpumalanga and elsewhere?” said Gordhan.

“Some members, honourable chair, have amnesia when it suits them.

“We are categorical about our position on corruption.

“We bring together law enforcement agencies and the executives of many of the State-owned entities so that this matter can be tackled.”

Pretoria News