EFF accuse Gordhan, de Ruyter of appointing contractors without due process
The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) has accused Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan and Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter of appointing contractors without following due processes.
The comments by the red berets come after Gordhan and De Ruyter failed to account before the Standing Committee of Public Accounts (Scopa) on the deviations and expansions of Eskom contracts.
Spokesperson Leigh-Anne Mathys says out of 28 expansion requests, only three requested deviations and four expansions were not approved.
“The rest, costing billions of rands, were approved, and others approved conditionally.
“This means that Eskom could do what it wanted to do, and appoint contractors they wanted without following normal procurement procedures, and that they could expand contracts of those they are close with, without opening up the space for new entrants to the industry.
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“Through this method, Eskom is able to maintain the dominance of white contractors in that entity.”
Mathys adds that the actions of Gordhan and De Ruyter amount to fraud.
“Gordhan and De Ruyter ran away from accounting for these procurement blunders, which easily amount to fraud.”
Mathys says in future the pair must be subpoenaed to appear before Scopa.
