The National Assembly has voted against the DA motion to establish an ad hoc committee to inquire into the full extent of the alleged widespread corruption and unabated operations of criminal networks and cartels at Eskom.

The ANC used its majority to shoot down the motion with all its present MPs (201) voting against it. All present opposition MPs (115) voted in support.

The motion was debated in a mini-plenary last Thursday.

During the debate, DA leader John Steenhuisen dropped a bombshell when he claimed that former deputy president David Mabuza was implicated in the corruption at the power utility.

“We all know who this person being referred to is. It’s Mr DD Mabuza and we all know how connected he is within the ANC, and we all know how terrified the ANC is of him (De Ruyter) releasing this information. That is the reality here today,” said Steenhuisen, ending a debate where ANC MPs rejected his request for an ad hoc committee.

“The ANC is going to wait until he is safely in Russia like it waited with the Guptas to be in Dubai and Mr Agrizzi to be in Italy before this parliament slowly gets off and does anything,” he said.

Steenhuisen later told TimesLIVE that Mabuza was the senior person that former Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter was referring to when he said a senior politician was involved in the contracts, hit squads and all sorts of crimes at Eskom.

De Ruyter told eNCA’s Annika Larsen in an interview that “there was one particular high-level politician that was involved in this” and that he had told a cabinet minister about it.

He said the minister in question “looked at a senior official and said, ‘I guess it was inevitable that it would come out anyway’.”

Mabuza rejected Steenhuisen’s allegations as baseless.

In a statement, he said that he had continuously pleaded with Steenhuisen to report him to the police if he had such evidence. He said those calls have amounted to nothing. Instead, Mabuza charged that Steenhuisen has used the allegations to gain popularity and score cheap political points.

“Mr Steenhuisen’s accusations against me are baseless and unfounded. Despite my repeated calls for him to do the right thing and report any alleged criminal activity to the appropriate authorities, he has chosen to spread false information in a desperate attempt to stay relevant,” said Mabuza. 

“For him to resort to such sleazy tactics just to score cheap political points is disgraceful and undermines the stature of honourable parliamentarians. I categorically deny any involvement in criminal activity related to Eskom or any other entity.”

Shortly after De Ruyter’s interview, ANC MP Bheki Hadebe called for the standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) to conduct an inquiry into De Ruyter’s allegations and the alleged corruption at Eskom.

While all parties supported the call, Scopa decided last week to first hear from De Ruyter before taking a decision on whether to go ahead with a full-blown inquiry into the malfeasance at the power utility.

TimesLIVE