President Cyril Ramaphosa has reiterated that if former Eskom CEO André de Ruyter has information about corrupt ministers or politicians he should give that information to the police or other law enforcement agencies.
Ramaphosa said he could not be in a position to investigate his own ministers as that responsibility lies with criminal investigators.
De Ruyter told Scopa two weeks ago that a senior ranking politician was involved in the looting and theft at Eskom.
However, he refused to name the politician for legal reasons.
De Ruyter said he told Ramaphosa’s national security adviser Sydney Mufamadi and Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan about this high-ranking politician.
The Hawks, SAPS and the Special Investigating Unit told Scopa this week De Ruyter did not share the name of the politician concerned with them.
Ramaphosa, who was in a question and answer session in the National Assembly on Thursday, said De Ruyter has a duty to report the people involved in corruption at Eskom to the law enforcement agencies.
The state agencies probing corruption at Eskom have not been given information on the politicians involved, said Ramaphosa.
If there was someone with information on ministers or politicians implicated in corruption at the power utility they must come forward with evidence.
“If there is anyone with information that someone in the executive has been involved in corrupt activities or theft let the matter be investigated.
“Members of the opposition have always said, ‘president do this, charge this one, arrest somebody, take them to court’.
“I don’t do that. Even if I wanted to do that, the rule of law and the Constitution that we have don’t allow that. If the president starts investigating his own ministers then it basically means that we don’t need the police. The president is the policeman himself. It means we don’t need criminal investigators because the president is the criminal investigator himself,” said Ramaphosa.
He said the corruption at Eskom needs to be backed up by evidence and this must be handled by the appropriate bodies whose job is to investigate and charge people.
Ramaphosa also said they were taking all measures to ensure there was electricity supply in the country.
He also denied turf wars in his cabinet between Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe and Gordhan.
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