IN QUOTES | Zukiswa Rantho: Some didn't want Eskom inquiry because ANC members may be implicated

Former ANC MP and chairperson of the inquiry into Eskom, Zukiswa Rantho, on Tuesday alleged before the state capture commission that the Eskom inquiry was opposed by some in the ANC who feared party members may be implicated. 

Rantho, the former chairperson of parliament's public enterprises portfolio committee,  was quizzed about the events leading up to the establishment of the inquiry in 2017.

Asked why parliament did not investigate other allegations of corruption and state capture, she said members of opposition parties often brought allegations without evidence. She said some were based on media reports, which made it difficult for parliament to investigate further. 

On the Eskom inquiry, she alleged that some in the ANC deemed it unnecessary because it would divide the ruling party. 

Here are five telling quotes from her testimony:

The National Assembly may have overlooked allegations raised by Natasha Mazzone 

“If a statement has been made in a sitting of parliament, there is a certain group of people that deals with that. I am not defending anybody. I am saying if those people did not see it befitting for a follow-up that needs to be done, it is dependent on them. Not on us as a committee.”

ANC voted against a motion to investigate state capture 

“There are a lot of motions that were rejected by the ANC in the National Assembly. That means the motion was rejected by the majority of people who were in the National Assembly then. Therefore the motion could not go through.”

The Eskom inquiry 

“The committee unanimously agreed that it must go through an inquiry so that we get more resources from parliament to get more researchers that will get us through the inquiry. As a committee then, we had one content adviser, one researcher and one secretary.” 

Not all allegations were backed by evidence 

“We went into the [Eskom] inquiry because we had evidence in front of us. Most of these allegations by the opposition parties, they were just allegations that were coming out of the media without giving the real evidence of what has really happened or who has done what.”

Some members of the ANC did not want the inquiry 

“There were members who felt that it was not necessary to have an inquiry in the portfolio committee because if it continued, members of the ANC might be implicated. That would mean that the ANC would be divided and there would be people who need to be investigated further.”