The Chairman of the embattled ANC parastatal Eskom, Malegapuru Makgoba, issued a stern warning to employees who falsely accused their colleagues of racism, and encouraged Eskom staff to think about how these accusations could affect someone’s reputation, and said those who are unsure about what they are complaining about, should rather remain silent.
Makgoba’s comments come during the announcement of Eskom’s annual financial results for the 2020/2021 financial year earlier this week.
“We must be careful to make frivolous or baseless accusations against people because they are of another race, you can imagine what happens to a man or woman when they are accused of racism. Sometimes they will never recover,” said Makgoba.
He warned that Eskom would investigate allegations of racism, and if an employee was found to be lying to damage another’s reputation, they would be “shown the door.”
Makgoba’s warning comes after an independent inquiry into Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter, acquitted him of the racism allegations by Eskom’s former procurement boss Solly Tshitangano.
These false allegations included abuse of power, racial discrimination, poor governance, irregular recruitment, irregular staff appointments and illegal procurement, which came after Solly Tshitangano was suspended in February.
De Ruyter denied the allegations, explaining that the suspension was about Solly’s competence, not his race.
“In effect, a simple and straightforward operational issue dealing with under-performance has been elevated to parliamentary level,” De Ruyter said after Tshitangano’s allegations reached Parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA).
“Tshitangano’s allegations are entirely without merit and appear to be an attempt to subvert Eskom’s internal disciplinary process,” says De Ruyter
De Ruyter claims that Tshitangano cannot achieve key performance targets, including his inability to negotiate payment terms with large multinational companies, which do business with Eskom.
He also submitted an affidavit to parliament listing the 21 charges against Tshitangano, which led to his suspension.
SCOPA initially intended to investigate the claims against De Ruyter itself, but stopped after Eskom launched its own independent investigation.
Under senior lawyer Ishmael Semenya, the investigation found no violations by De Ruyter or anyone at Eskom, as alleged by Tshitangano.
In an apparent reversal, Tshitangano then denied the allegations he sent in a series of letters to Cyril Ramaphosa and Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan.
Semenya describes the denials as “astonishing” and warns that the allegations could potentially harm Eskom’s financial status. Eskom said Tshitangano knew the allegations were false, heinous and unfounded.
The state entity fired Tshitangano after a separate internal investigation found him guilty of gross misconduct and breach of duty and responsibility.
Listen and read also: “Systemic Looting at Eskom” – R238,000 for Wooden Broom, R80,000 for a Kneepad, R56 for Bottle of Milk! #TheAfricanWay is the Consumption of Civilization Itself!