The “intelligence” that former Eskom CEO André de Ruyter used to implicate senior members of the executive in looting Eskom are filled with untested allegations that came from a shadowy intelligence operative implicated in apartheid-era crimes.
At the end of 2021, De Ruyter asked big business to invest millions of rands in an "intelligence-driven", off-the-books investigation to expose fraud and corruption at Eskom.
Fifteen months, and approximately R50 million later, the investigation has produced nothing but mere conjecture and dubious information.
The Fivaz reports and diagrams, which are in News24's possession, are stuffed with wild and uncorroborated allegations. No evidence is provided for many of the claims, including that senior members of the executive were involved in criminal syndicates, and even a "poisoning plot" against De Ruyter.
Listen to a conversation between News24's editor-in-chief Adriaan Basson and veteran investigative journalist Jacques Pauw as they discuss the so-called Eskom "intelligence" reports made famous by De Ruyter in a tell-all interview in February.
Revealed: Apartheid spook behind De Ruyter's R50m off-the-books Project Ostrich
The "evidence" that former Eskom CEO André de Ruyter used to implicate top ANC Cabinet members in the looting of Eskom are wild and untested allegations that came from a shadowy intelligence operative implicated in apartheid-era crimes.
News24 can reveal the so-called Eskom "intelligence" files or reports made famous by De Ruyter in a tell-all interview in February were concocted by Tony Oosthuizen, a key member of an apartheid-era secret Military Intelligence unit, and are effectively worthless.
Jacques Pauw: Why I cancelled Eskom book after meeting apartheid spy
It is astonishing that despite Oosthuizen's murderous and murky past, he gained access to the highest echelons of Eskom and, accompanied by then Eskom CEO André de Ruyter, personally briefed Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan about fraud and corruption at Eskom, writes Jacques Pauw.
'Mantashe, Mabuza or both poisoned De Ruyter' - inside the Fivaz reports
The Fivaz reports and diagrams, which are in News24's possession, are stuffed with wild and uncorroborated allegations of Mantashe and Mabuza's involvement in criminal syndicates in Mpumalanga that are looting Eskom. GFFR does not provide any evidence for the claims that Mabuza and Mantashe are involved in this criminality.
In fact, since De Ruyter's interview aired on e.tv, Fivaz and colleagues have gone a step further and in a February 2023 analysis report, implicate Mabuza, Mantashe, or both, of involvement in the alleged poisoning of De Ruyter.
EDITORIAL | Corruption at Eskom is rife. A dirty dossier won't stop it
First things first: News24's revelation of the dirty dossiers and dodgy characters behind an Eskom "intelligence" operation does not mean the power utility is not riven by corruption.
There are enough real facts in the public domain and in courts of law around the country that prove how Eskom became ground zero for rent seeking by politically connected networks and mafias.
But these networks, which likely include collusion by politicians, won't be stopped by rogue, half-baked intelligence dossiers sold to the highest bidder by discredited information peddlers.
REPORTING NOTES | Why News24 did not publish George Fivaz's 'Eskom intelligence reports'
News24 first saw the so-called "Eskom intelligence reports" in October 2022. We never published investigative reports based on it, because the evidence wasn't there, writes Pieter du Toit, assistant editor of investigations.
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