Sydney Mufamadi says he only heard snippets from De Ruyter's intelligence report

Parliament's standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) will write to former Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter to obtain the covert intelligence report he used to investigate allegations of corruption at Eskom.  

This after President Cyril Ramaphosa's national security adviser Sydney Mufamadi told committee members he did not have the report.

Only some extracts of the report were shared in a meeting between him, De Ruyter and public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan, he said.

“The invitation for me to attend the meeting came from Gordhan, who said he is going to receive a report and is asking me to come with him. Should there be a need or a decision to be taken after that briefing, I can give him advice,” he said.  

He confirmed the names of politicians allegedly involved in Eskom corruption were mentioned at the meeting.  

Mufamadi told committee members he advised De Ruyter to take the report to the law enforcement agencies.

He also raised the matter with the national police commissioner Gen Fannie Masemola, who told him he was already in contact with De Ruyter.

He said he believed police were “ahead of the curve” on the matter.  

Scopa MPs have over the past month listened to De Ruyter, Gordhan, police and Hawks bosses, the Special Investigating Unit and Eskom board members as part of its hearings into the allegations of cartels milking Eskom, a cabinet minister allegedly involved in the corruption and R1bn monthly losses due to corruption.

Scopa chair Mkhuleko Hlengwa said Mufamadi provided clarity for the committee on some matters, particularly the intelligence report and the briefing of names.  

An impression had been created that the names of politicians allegedly involved in acts of sabotage on Eskom were dropped in an informal ad hoc meeting, but Hlengwa indicated this was not the case.  

“It was not an informal ad hoc process but a formal process, because an impression has been created that in large part these matters were dealt with in passing,” he said.  

Hlengwa asked committee members to write to De Ruyter to obtain the report from him.  

“Unless there is a solid basis for the discussion, it continues to be a theatre of speculation which is untested and unsubstantiated, but we know an investigation was done and [a] report in one form or the other is available and we need to get that. I know the Special Investigating Unit was doing that.”

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