An Eskom employee has said that the utility’s forensic department is investigating some of the cartels that former CEO Andre de Ruyter mentioned in a controversial eNCA interview earlier this year.

A middle manager in Eskom’s forensics department, Dorothy Mmushi, claimed in an interview with Newzroom Afrika that some of the cartels she was investigating were those that De Ruyter fingered during his tenure as the utility’s CEO.

City Press reported on Sunday that Mmushi’s life had allegedly been threatened by a hitman who had been paid R400,000 by a senior executive to assassinate her.

Mmushi had been investigating fraud and corruption relating to tenders at the utility and identified members of the cartels running the fraudulent schemes as well as employees facilitating them.

This resulted in her being threatened by law enforcement.

“I have been threatened by law enforcement to a point where I was unlawfully arrested for having identified the cartels and requesting law enforcement arrest the individuals involved,” Mmushi told Newzroom Afrika.

The cartels operating these schemes are based in Mpumalanga and involve suppliers of equipment and services to Eskom.

The names of the cartel members have been given to law enforcement.

Former Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter revealed widespread corruption and fraud at the utility in his book, Truth to Power.

“Some of these cartels were touched on by Andre de Ruyter during the interview,” Mmushi said in reference to De Ruyter’s tell-all interview with eNCA earlier this year.

She also said that she emailed De Ruyter multiple times in relation to the cartels. However, Mmushi did not receive a reply.

The former CEO estimated that around R1 billion is stolen monthly from the power utility.

“We know of at least four organised crime cartels operating in Mpumalanga operating in Eskom,” he said.

“Some of them also have an interest in Transnet, which we see in our inability to use rail to get coal to the Majuba power station.”

The four criminal cartels are sophisticated, well-organised, and even adopted language associated with the Mafia, like captains and soldiers.

“They have a hit squad of between 60 and 70 highly trained and well-armed people. People get assassinated in Mpumalanga.”

“The media may have become desensitised to the killings, but pretty much every week, there is an assassination.”

He said it shows that crime and corruption at Eskom are deeply entrenched and highly organised.

The criminal networks have extended their tentacles to many Eskom workers who sabotage and vandalise power stations on their behalf.

“The person who committed the sabotage is not the kingpin. It is an ordinary employee, and you cannot post policemen to look over everyone’s shoulder,” he said.

De Ruyter said they have started implementing measures to fight power station sabotage, including installing high-definition cameras with AI systems.

However, the cameras often go down when they should be functional, which is always followed by a spate of incidents.

source:Eskom whistleblower confirms Andre de Ruyter’s cartel claims – Daily Investor