Eskom board member Busisiwe Mavuso was asked to leave a meeting with Parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) after saying the board and CEO would not be the “fall guy” when the government had created “the mess” that Eskom is in.
Mavuso is also the CEO of Business Leadership SA.
In a statement, the ministry of public enterprises called her comments ‘regrettable’ and her conduct ‘unbecoming’ as a board member of Eskom.
‘It is unfortunate that Ms Mavuso brought party political issues in a process where SCOPA, as a Committee of Parliament, was exercising its oversight responsibilities.’
The ministry said it is giving her actions “serious consideration”.
Mavuso said: ‘… What we will not accept and what we will not agree to, … is to have this board and André [de Ruyter] as the fall guy for the mess that this organisation is currently experiencing.
‘… Because the reality of the matter is that this is not our mess. We have been brought in to clean it up. But we are not going to be the fall guy for the R300-and-whatever billion of Medupi and Kusile, that have still not [been] completed.’
She added that the board and management were doing their best to finalise Medupi and Kusile by 2023.
‘But everything else … honestly, we … we cannot be the fall guy for this ANC-led government’ Mavuso emphasised.
Scopachairperson Mkhuleko Hlengwa berated Mavuso for engaging in ‘theatrics’. Mavuso said it wasn’t theatrics but facts.
‘… That is what cameras do. Either behave yourself or excuse yourself from this meeting,’ he said.
Mavuso then excused herself from the meeting.
Hlengwa said Scopa would be making ‘fundamental recommendations’ about Mavuso and her ‘very unprofessional conduct.
‘This is politics from the gutter as far as I’m concerned,’ he added.