The Public Protector has cleared former Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter of any wrongdoing following allegations of nepotism and administrative improprieties against him.

This was after De Ruyter allegedly appointed Eskom contractor Werner Mouton to analyse fuel oil bid documents without following due process.

Mouton was appointed on January 20, 2020.

The Office of the Public Protector was approached by former Eskom chief procurement officer Solly Tshitangano, who alleged that De Ruyter abused his powers and contravened the rules relating to the utility’s recruitment.

Tshitangano, who filed a complaint in January 2021, alleged that De Ruyter issued a directive to him to ignore all internal processes and give effect to instructions received from the legal team to avoid prejudice to Eskom.

He said De Ruyter argued that he was protecting the utility’s closing report of the Public Protector.

Tshitangano said the appointment of Mouton was irregular, adding that the process promoted a culture where corruption, nepotism, and patronage were tolerated.

He said Mouton was hired as general manager for fuel sourcing after engagements between him as the then-chief procurement officer (CPO) and De Ruyter, during which he indicated inadequate technical capacity in his division.

He stated that Mouton was appointed and given a monthly salary of R200 000 “as if he was the only expert” in this country.

However, the Public Protector said the allegations that the functionaries of Eskom irregularly appointed Mouton in contravention of the Eskom recruitment and appointment legal prescripts were not substantiated.

The investigation revealed that the functionaries complied with clause 3.2.3.2 of the Talent Discovery Procedure in the appointment of Mouton through the sourcing of his CV and by completing the relevant requisition form and submitting a motivation letter.

Both documents were signed by the complainant and HR.

Efforts to reach De Ruyter for a comment were unsuccessful.

Asked to comment on the findings, Tshitangano provided a statement in which he accused the Public Protector of bias and failing to inspire public confidence. This was after the office cleared De Ruyter in the reports released in January and August 2024.

He said this shows that the investigation was conducted unfairly by the investigation team and that the truth that was discovered was ignored.

Tshitangano said he also requested the office to probe allegations of bias against the investigation team.

Eskom was unavailable to comment at the time of publication.

Meanwhile, civil rights organisation AfriForum said any act from the Public Protector or any other institution that can increase accountability and transparency from the state-organisations is good and should be welcomed.

Tshitangano also sent the complaint to President Cyril Ramaphosa and the late Public Enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan.

He said De Ruyter claimed to have interviewed Mouton, but there was no evidence indicating that the interview was facilitated by Human Resources or whether such an interview ever took place. He said this undermined the demands of equal treatment and transparency.

Tshitangano claimed that Mouton was not only irregularly appointed, but he also submitted a biased report and displayed very little understanding of Eskom’s processes and the work that he was appointed to do.

According to Tshitangano, Mouton was appointed as an expert to conduct an independent analysis of the fuel oil bid and produce a report which would inform management on how to take the process forward.

However, he drafted a biased analysis report that recommended the cancellation of the bid, and that the analysis did not take into account the implications of Clause 13(3) of the Preferential Procurement Regulations 2017.

He said De Ruyter informed the complainant that the executive committee (Exco) recommended the cancellation of the fuel oil bid on February 10, 2020, but key information that should have been made available to Exco members was withheld.

He alleged that De Ruyter and Mouton had a close relationship, and that itself prevented the complaint from sanctioning or holding Mouton accountable for poor performance.

Tshitangano previously accused De Ruyter of racism and said that he mistreated and harassed black suppliers. This was after Eskom terminated its supply agreement with Econ Oil and deregistered the company as a supplier for 10 years, following allegations of improper and unethical business practices, including an alleged corrupt relationship between Econ Oil’s management and a retired Eskom employee.

However, in his affidavit to the Parliament public accounts committee on March 2021, De Ruyter said Tshitangano, who was suspended and subsequently fired, was charged for failing to investigate alleged overcharging and corrupt practices by Econ Oil.

He said Tshitangano allowed the deals to go ahead “despite receiving legal advice that such contracts should not be concluded, and a request from me to heed such advice”.

He added that there was abuse of single source procurements at Eskom, adding that Eskom’s chief operations office, Jan Oberholzer, supported that a R40 million contract be modified by R49 million in May 2019, but the complainant rejected the modification stating that submitting a modification of R49 million to National Treasury would compromise the integrity of the board and management when this modification is discussed at Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa).

He said this was because some officials wanted him to support the appointment of Bowman's Attorneys or Ryno Pepler using single-source procurement in November 2019.

Tshitangano said the complainant did support the single-source procurement, stating that Ryno Pepler or Pepler Forensic Services was not registered as a supplier in the Central Supplier Database (CSD).

He said that Bowman's Attorneys did not disclose to Eskom that it had appointed Ryno Pepler as a subcontractor, adding that Eskom did not have valid grounds to appoint Ryno Pepler or Pepler Forensic Services using a single source.

“The historical modification of PB Africa (Parsons Brinckerhoff) and Black and Veatch contracts left much to be desired. These contracts were initiated at R100 million each in 2005/2006.

“Their values have increased to approximately R20 billion. The assessment of these modifications revealed manipulation of the internal process. The complainant, as the CPO, recommended that these modifications and others be subjected to forensic investigations,” he said.

In its integrated report for the year ended March 31, 2024, Eskom revealed that it had appointed an independent legal firm to investigate allegations of corruption and other criminal activities at the power utility by De Ruyter.

The allegations followed explosive allegations from De Ruyter in various interviews and in his book Truth to Power: My Three Years Inside Eskom.

In the book, De Ruyter tells the behind-the-scenes story of launching a private investigation that exposed criminal cartels feeding off Eskom.

manyane.manyane@inl.co.za