Police have hit back at ex-Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter’s claim that they sent two “middle-aged” sergeants to investigate his alleged poisoning.
National police spokesperson Brig Athlenda Mathe said they did not assign dockets or cases based on rank but rather on expertise.
De Ruyter made the comments during an interview with eNCA on Wednesday talking about the ordeal in which he survived poisoning in December last year.
“If you are middle-aged and still a sergeant in the police, then you haven’t exactly shot the lights out in your career,” he said.
He claimed during his interview with the cops it became clear that they did not know the difference between cyanide (the poison) and sinuses.
De Ruyter said if the head of the country’s power utility is poisoned and low-ranking officers were assigned to investigate the matter, that demonstrated a government that had no regard for national security.
Defending the officers, Mathe said a normally trained officer would not have knowledge of scientific terms used to describe poisonous substances until sent for forensic analysis in a scientific lab.
“The members that were dispatched to attend to this matter are attached to the provincial investigating unit as these are members that only investigate high-profile cases and are highly trained and equipped to investigate sensitive, complex and high-profile criminal matters,” Mathe said. .
“The matter was thereafter referred to the DPCI (Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation) for further investigation to be centralised with other investigation cases related to Eskom.”
The police comments follow a groundswell of retaliation from the ANC and government against claims made by De Ruyter in an interview that led to his unceremonious departure on Wednesday.
LISTEN | ANC threatens legal action against De Ruyter after 'feeding trough' corruption allegations
De Ruyter alleged that Eskom was losing R1bn a month due to corruption and theft by people often affiliated to the ANC.
Without naming names, he also alleged there was a minister involved in sinister activity at Eskom.
Asked if Eskom was “a feeding trough for the ANC”, De Ruyter said: “The evidence suggests that it is.”
He further said he expressed concern to a government minister about attempts to water down governance around $8.5bn (R155bn) the power utility secured during the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, commonly known as COP26.
“The response was you have to be pragmatic and in order to pursue the greater good, you have to allow some to eat a bit,” he said.
ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula threatened to take legal action against De Ruyter because he “cheaply” lied about the party and publicly dented its image.
He said he must prove the allegations that the ANC was corrupt.
Other party leaders also supported Mbalula's sentiments, saying that De Ruyter was using the ANC as a scapegoat for his “failures” as the CEO of the struggling state-owned enterprise.
"[The] former Eskom [CEO] hides behind political conspiracies to hide his dismal performance and dodgy relationships with private security. We want to warn him that lies have short legs,” deputy state security minister Zizi Kodwa said.
Kodwa did not go into detail about private security claims.
Finance minister Enoch Godongwana also joined the fray during a parliamentary committee meeting on Wednesday, saying that in every instance the former CEO raised corruption or criminality issues before government leaders, they responded appropriately.
The Central Energy Fund (CEF) labelled De Ruyter's interview as “misleading”, “sinister” and “reckless”.
In the interview, De Ruyter alleged Eskom had received a request from the CEF to transfer three of the power utility's ageing power stations to CEF not too long after a visit by Russia's minister of energy.
The CEF said at the heart of the request to Eskom was and is still to intensify collaboration between the two state-owned entities given the just energy transition and the importance of gas.
When De Ruyter was contacted yesterday, a woman answered his phone and said he was attending meetings in the morning. “The poor guy is swamped currently. This is a very fluid moment for him with people wanting every piece of him,” she said.
Build One South Africa leader Mmusi Maimane said he would write to President Cyril Ramaphosa demanding that he explain what he knew about the allegations by De Ruyter.
The SA Federation of Trade Unions general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said he would open a case against De Ruyter for failing to disclose corruption.
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