Instability and infighting still reign at the very top echelons of Eskom, and new information has emerged about a deep falling-out between CEO André de Ruyter and his lieutenant, trusted civil servant Solly Tshitangano.
Tensions between the two were downplayed by Eskom board chair professor Malegapuru Makgoba and the state power company, but the fight threatens to derail the government's plan to fix the broken state-owned entity (SOE).
The Sunday Times has learnt that Tshitangano, who was rumoured to be on the brink of being suspended last week, wrote an eight-page letter to Makgoba, public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan, and President Cyril Ramaphosa last February, imploring them to investigate alleged instances of De Ruyter either abusing his power or suspending protocols in critical developments on the board.
These included:
• De Ruyter's appointment of an analyst, Werner Mouton - a former colleague of his at Sasol - at a rate of R200,000 a month after interviewing him on his own on a Sunday;
• De Ruyter undermining governance on two key Eskom programmes, the appointment of divisional boards to run the unbundled divisions of Eskom and the decision to alter Eskom's procurement strategy without submission to the executive committee for consideration; and
• De Ruyter allegedly attempting to transfer Tshitangano from his position as chief procurement officer, raising performance issues - again outside of the rules - after he refused to suspend Eskom's procurement rules at De Ruyter's instruction.
All this happened in the first month of De Ruyter's appointment, in January last year.
Both men are key to the turnaround project. De Ruyter, a seasoned business leader with experience in leading turnaround projects, was tasked with turning around Eskom's ailing fortunes.
Tshitangano, a career civil servant who is said to be a stickler for rules and process, was brought in from the National Treasury in January 2019 to head up procurement, which had been crippled by corruption and ineptitude.
As chief director heading up the National Treasury's governance, monitoring and compliance unit - he later acted as chief procurement officer after Kenneth Brown's retirement - he was an integral part of the Treasury's fight against capture of SOEs such as Eskom, Transnet and SA Airways.
The Sunday Times has learnt that the extent of their acrimony saw De Ruyter allegedly trying to move Tshitangano from his position last February.
The procurement head asked Eskom's board of directors - in the letter to Makgoba just four days later - to investigate De Ruyter for alleged abuse of powers and unauthorised suspension of recruitment and procurement rules, as well as undermining governance.
Tshitangano said he could not comment on Eskom issues.
Eskom spokesperson Sikonathi Mantshantsha said the power utility would not comment on internal deliberations.
However, he said: "As is common practice in enterprises, performance discussions are held with management, and underperforming executives may not find that experience to their liking, particularly where an organisation and department is not delivering according to expectations.
"It is not true to say Mr De Ruyter has abused his powers in the execution of his duties. At all material times, Mr de Ruyter's conduct has been informed by his fiduciary duty to act in the best interests of Eskom."
The extent of their acrimony saw De Ruyter allegedly trying to move Tshitangano from his position last February
Mantshantsha added that Mouton, an expert who was brought in to review a R14bn fuel oil tender, was appointed in May on a three-month fixed-term contract that was prepared by the human resources department for generation group executive Bheki Nxumalo.
His contract has been extended on several occasions with the same conditions, and will terminate at the end of 2021, he said.
"It must be noted that the introduction of Mr Mouton into Eskom was brought about by Mr Tshitangano's admission in a January 2020 meeting with . De Ruyter that his procurement department did not have the required technical skills to evaluate the fuel oil contract.
"Whereas a savings target of R2.25bn had been set for the procurement department for the financial year 2020, no savings were achieved. As a direct result of Mr Mouton's expertise and intervention, Eskom has been able to save more than R800m from the procurement of fuel oil during the past financial year," he said.
Tshitangano's version of Mouton's appointment states that he commenced work on January 20, and was introduced by De Ruyter to Eskom HR executive Elsie Pule eight days previously. This was after Tshitangano said he had been trying to get experts on board since February 2019.
The Sunday Times has seen independent evidence showing that Mouton had worked at Eskom months prior to his signing a contract in May.
Makgoba downplayed the tensions this week. "The letter was not shared [with the rest of the board]. The letter and the request were directed at the chairperson and requesting the chairperson's intervention.
"I contacted Mr Tshitangano and then contacted Mr De Ruyter with a view to resolving the matter. I was satisfied the issue had been resolved and that their working relationship would improve," he said.
Ramaphosa's spokesperson, Tyrone Seale, referred queries to the department of public enterprises, saying it was addressing "the matter".
Public enterprises spokesperson Richard Mantu said the matter had been referred to Eskom's board to look into and report back once it had all the facts.
In another example cited by Tshitangano, in January 2020 De Ruyter, supported by chief operations officer Jan Oberholzer and Medupi power station general manager Wikus van Rensburg, wanted to keep a dodgy R100m contract awarded to IDS Africa, a company owned by a relative of former Eskom board chair Jabu Mabuza.
This was despite Eskom finding that its own employees had met with IDS director Nomvula Mabuza and changed prices quoted in the bid, after the award, so that it grew by R10m.
Following reports in the press, an investigation by Eskom concluded it was a bona fide mistake that was being rectified in the modification. But Tshitangano disputed this, saying other companies had been disqualified over bona fide mistakes. Eskom later cancelled the award, citing "irregularities".
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.