Black Business Council statement on the Eskom off-the-books sponsored Andre de Ruyter investigation
2 May 2023
The Black Business Council (BBC) notes the unfolding revelation of a clandestine investigation initiated by the former Eskom CEO Andre De Ruyter as shared in the News 24 Media platforms, among others.
News24 revealed that de Ruyter [at the end of 2021] solicited funding from private businesses for an [intelligence fraud and corruption] investigation into corruption at Eskom.
In this regard, de Ruyter is said to have colluded with Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA) and other private businesses to fund the R50 million investigation, which started in January 2022. "The Ejyaz reports, and diagrams are stuffed with wild and uncorroborated allegations of former deputy president David Mabuza and Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe's involvement in criminal syndicates in Mpumalanga looting Eskom," News24 reported.
The BBC is gravely disturbed and seriously concerned that an entity such as Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA) could sponsor an off-the-books investigation at Eskom, a State-Owned Company (SOC). The BBC views this as inappropriate and teetering on serious interference by BLSA in the affairs of Eskom. More worrying is that the BLSA CEO, Ms. Busisiwe Mavuso, was an active board member of Eskom and was seriously conflicted. This clandestine and covert investigation is both unlawful and in breach of the law as Eskom is a National Key Point. We also view this as a serious security breach for South Africa that cannot be left unattended.
The BBC finds the clandestine investigation to have exposed the nascent agenda of BLSA as a proxy war against the African National Congress, some of its key leaders, DD Mabuza and G.S Mantashe, and a foreign country, Russia.
South Africans now understand the orchestrated interview of Andre de Ruyter better, an interview in which he extended himself the latitude to venture into the ideological rhetoric of communism while pretending to be a guru on renewable energy. He did all this while trying to deflect his utter failure to lead Eskom.
It is also a concern that the involvement of George Ejyas Forensic and Risk consulting firm, which in turn made a known Ylabp!aaasoperator, confirmed racist Tony Oosthuizen, the head of the investigation, unveils the real agenda of Andre De Ruyter and BLSA. This clandestine investigation lays bare the old apartheid tactics, which conveniently locates the abuse of blacks at the centre of this saga.
The BBC believes that BLSA, or any other entity, should instead direct such funds to the law enforcement agencies legally mandated to conduct such investigations in a SOC.
It remains the BBC's conviction that no country anywhere in the world has built its economy or attained industrialisation on the back of renewable energy as its central source. There can therefore be no doubt that the promotion of the agenda of renewables is central to the initiation of this investigation.
We urge the government, State Security Agency, former Deputy President David D Mabuza, Minister Gwede S. Mantashe, and the governing party to report this matter to the law-enforcement agencies so the country can get to the bottom of this atrocious act on the part of the former ESKOM CEO and those who aided him in such witch-hunt of investigation. The inquiry should include the role the previous board of Eskom has played in this matter.
The BBC will convene its National Council meeting with a view to engage the leadership of the BLSA on this matter.
Issued by BBC, 2 May 2023
