Report clears Eskom boss

An explosive report by Eskom chief executive André de Ruyter to the Eskom board reveals Eskom’s position in respect of unproven allegations of corruption, nepotism and victimisation orchestrated against chief operations officer (COO) Jan Oberholzer on social media and other platforms.

The Eskom report, dated 24 August, was presented to the board by De Ruyter at a meeting on 31 August, and deals with apparently orchestrated and ongoing suggestions by the Economic Freedom Fighters, trade union federation Saftu, and Corruption Watch suggesting a corrupt and conflicted relationship by Oberholzer with Stefanutti Stocks, Black & Veatch and Aveng.

The report also deals with allegations by former Eskom general manager: coal and clean technologies Mark Chettiar, who was also the portfolio project manager for the disastrous Majuba rail project, and the new ash dam project at Camden power station, where delays caused the whole 1 600MW power plant to shut down for several months at the end of May, leading to at least one stage of load shedding in the country.

Chettiar said he was “taking legal advice on this matter and therefore not in a position to comment further”.

The report is the third investigation into alleged wrongdoing by Oberholzer and all three have cleared him.

In a further development, a high court judgment last week vindicated Oberholzer’s stance on a R40 million disputed payment to Aveng.

The judgment has ordered Eskom to pay Aveng the R40 million, plus interest on the debt to Aveng, plus costs of the legal action. In addition, the arbitrator has since ruled in favour of Aveng on claims in excess of a further R16 million.

De Ruyter said “the judgment has vindicated the COO”.