Police Minister Bheki Cele has been left puzzled by the R2 billion spent by Eskom on internal security when they do not see the results on it.
Cele said they have been involved in investigations into corruption at Eskom and have deployed teams led by former head of Crime Intelligence Peter Jacobs.
The investigations have unravelled the involvement of syndicates and criminal networks in coal supply, fuel supply and spare parts in various power stations.
Cele denied claims by members of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) on Tuesday that there was no political will to fight corruption and looting at Eskom.
Video: African News Agency (ANA)
He said they have been meeting with Eskom officials to get to the bottom of the criminal networks and theft taking place.
He said at some point they visited some of the power stations with President Cyril Ramaphosa.
However, Cele said despite the R2bn spent by Eskom it does not seem there was work in that space.
“The plan from the head of security was laid bare. It was the first time I heard that Eskom spent about R2bn on security matters internally with about 6 000 private security companies. One tried to find out this R2bn, what are they doing. One did not get a sense really, it was a little bit unexplainable,” said Cele.
Head of the Hawks Godfrey Lebeya and National Police Commissioner Fannie Masemola denied that former Eskom CEO André de Ruyter had given them the name of a senior politician who was involved in corruption at Eskom.
This was despite De Ruyter telling Scopa about the matter two weeks ago.
The Eskom Board has been asked to appear before Scopa on Wednesday on some of the allegations raised by De Ruyter.
Lebeya said they have been investigating a number of corruption cases at Eskom.
Cele also denied getting a report from De Ruyter on corruption at Eskom except to read about it in the media.
“At no time that I was briefed about this kind of investigation by whoever is leading with that matter. Later I heard that these are the kind of people that were investigating it. It’s a company led by the former national commissioner of SAPS, Mr Fivaz. You read about the money involved, it's about R50 million. The question then how it came about would not be known. The categorical answer that I give to the committee is that this minister did not know about that private investigation, but also did not know who did that until we read about those things in the papers,” said Cele.
He said the issue of corruption at Eskom would have to be investigated as they have a team that is led by Jacobs.
The Hawks have handled some of the cases.
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