When André de Ruyter was CEO, Eskom shut down a tender review panel
Electricity minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa said the cutting of a key review panel at Eskom in late 2022 allowed tender corruption, including an allegedly dodgy R21-billion diesel contract.
This was while André de Ruyter was still CEO of the state-owned power utility. De Ruyter is known for his strong anti-corruption stance, to the extent that he became a whistleblower.
Ramokgopa, in response to a written Parliamentary question, revealed that Eskom ended the tender review panel to cut costs after it had not made significant findings for some time.
“In October 2022, the central panel used to perform proactive assurance and full probity reviews on procurement transactions exceeding R500 million was discontinued,” he said.
“It was on the grounds of cost effectiveness and not having identified significant findings in high-value tenders reviewed over a period of time.”
Since then, Ramokgopa said, only limited scope reviews were being undertaken by appointed audit firms, leaving Eskom vulnerable to potential procurement irregularities.
“Limited scope reviews typically only included anti-bribery, fraud and anti-money laundering checks,” he said.
Ramokgopa made these remarks after summarising the details of an ongoing investigation into a diesel procurement contract, which he said was now in its final stages.
“The contracts under investigation relate to the supply of diesel to Eskom’s Open Cycle Gas Turbine (OCGT) power stations, which support system reliability during emergencies,” he said.
Eskom is now set to begin disciplinary proceedings against several employees who were found by the interim report to have breached procurement processes.
The minister said the power utility expected more employees to be charged once the full report has been issued and the investigation into the tender has concluded.
Since the launch of the investigation into this tender and the alleged corruption surrounding it, Eskom has reinstated full-scope probity reviews for similar deals.
“From late 2025, proactive assurance and full scope probity reviews have since been reinstated on all high-value tenders, retrospectively on some transactions from last year,” he said.
“This will make it procedurally difficult to recommend bidders who fail mandatory requirements.”
Eskom cracks down on corruption
The investigation Ramokgopa referred to concerned tender MWP2197GX, reportedly worth R21 billion, for the procurement of diesel fuel and storage. The enquiry was launched in May 2025.
The tender was under significant media scrutiny, and the minister confirmed that internal whistleblowers were also driving a deeper look into the deal.
“This investigation was initiated proactively by Eskom management itself, demonstrating its commitment to uncover and address wrongdoing without external prompting,” Ramokgopa said.
“Those implicated, whether employees or suppliers, will be held accountable through disciplinary action and, where warranted, criminal processes.”
Ramokgopa said the utility will seek to recover stolen funds as it executes plans to address historical misconduct and corruption.
“The interim report pointed to a need to hold those employees who did not follow Eskom’s processes accountable, and this will be matched by action against specific suppliers, as required,” he said.
He said Eskom was working to end years of governance and accountability failings across its operations by continuously strengthening its controls.
The final report is expected by mid-June 2026, when Ramokgopa said Eskom would take further disciplinary action as required.
In its last weekly report, published on 12 June 2026, Eskom reported that it had used significantly less diesel than in the same period last year.
“For the financial year to date, diesel expenditure stands at R615.58 million at a load factor of 1.36%, significantly lower than the R4.112 billion incurred over the same period last year,” it said.
The utility said this represented an 88.67% year-on-year reduction and highlighted that the latest figures were for the year-to-date period from 1 April to 11 June 2026.
“This continued reduction demonstrates both the cost savings and the operational improvements achieved through Eskom’s ongoing turnaround efforts,” it said.
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