Khaya Magaxa

Not going for broke

Afortnight ago, ANC MP Bheki Hadebe wrote to Scopa chair Mkhuleko Hlengwa requesting that the public finance watchdog summon André de Ruyter to explain his allegations of corruption at Eskom. Hlengwa’s committee obliged. So it was astounding to see ANC MPs fall over themselves in rejecting a proposal by the DA’s John Steenhuisen for further investigation. ANC MP Khaya Magaxa, who is, ironically, chair of the public enterprises committee responsible for overseeing Eskom, led the way in the warped logic stakes. He described allegations by De Ruyter as “childish”, and said Eskom “is not irreparably broken as the DA would wish. Instead it suffers from a few ailments such as corruption, fraud and sabotage, which are the legacy of state capture.” With a committee chair like this, load-shedding is set to be with us for a long time.