DA warns against possible use of race as a proxy in Eskom’s internal battles

9 March 2021

The Democratic Alliance (DA) has noted the announcement made by Eskom’s board of Directors sanctioning an investigation into allegations of racism against the utility's CEO, Andre de Ruyter.

While allegations of racism cannot be taken lightly, it is as important to guard against racially motivated attacks which unfortunately are often used to obfuscate and hide real issues. The Eskom board is free to take responsible decisions about the utility’s governance but it needs to be mindful of actions that may play into the hands of beneficiaries of State Capture who are keen on a continuation of the status quo that plagues procurement in the entity and that is responsible for outrageous overpayments. The DA has already posed questions concerning this and it is important that all-too-quick knee jerk actions alleging racism are carefully vetted – agenda scrutinised and any prima facie case carefully evaluated.

The DA calls disclosure of the raison d’etre for the step the board has taken. This is particularly important in view of the fact that procurement at the embattled power utility has been a great cause for concern due to years of State Capture corruption. It is important that South Africans are made aware of the reasons for actions which otherwise may provide corrupt elements, unhappy with De Ruyter’s clean-up campaign, with the wherewithal to continue with activities that have been responsible, in no small measure, for the utility’s poor performance.

While the jury is still out on De Ruyter’s strategy to reverse Eskom’s fortunes, we are in favour of allowing him to proceed with measures that fall under the purview of his office without his professional integrity being impugned by potentially unfounded allegations. It is for this reason that the DA demands that the board makes public their motivation and substantiation for the step they have taken.

We must guard against the use of race as a proxy in battles that are being fought at Eskom. While is an undeniable and lamentable fact that in South Africa a real problem of racism exists, however, we cannot beat this scourge by making unsubstantiated claims of racism. This will only fuel it. Transparency is required.

Issued byGhaleb Cachalia, DA Shadow Minister of Public Enterprises, 9 March 2021