JOHANNESBURG — A senior South African authorities minister denied Wednesday there was in depth corruption inside the ruling African Nations Congress get together in relation to the nation’s financially-crippled energy utility, though he did concede a “few” may need engaged in “naughty activity.”

Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan was answering questions from lawmakers in Parliament at a listening to specializing in the graft on the state-owned nationwide electrical energy provider that has contributed to Africa’s most developed nation going through an influence disaster and day by day blackouts. It has raised fears that the electrical energy provide may collapse.

“You can’t put everything on the shoulders of the ANC,” Gordhan mentioned in relation to what’s accepted as rampant corruption and mismanagement at nationwide electrical energy firm Eskom. “There are within the ANC very honest, dedicated activists who want the public interests to be primary and who want this country to work, and there might be those few who have engaged in, let’s call it naughty activity.”

Gordhan, who was South Africa’s finance minister from 2015-17, was showing earlier than a multi-party oversight committee following critical allegations made by former Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter, who mentioned in a tv interview in February that the ANC and high-ranking politicians have been concerned within the corruption.

The ANC mentioned it might sue de Ruyter for defamation and has demanded that he retract the claims.

De Ruyter didn’t identify the politicians allegedly concerned when he was questioned by lawmakers over the difficulty final month, and Gordhan mentioned Wednesday he didn’t know who de Ruyter was referring to. Gordhan mentioned whereas widespread allegations of corruption at Eskom weren’t unfounded, a few of de Ruyter’s claims have been merely used to downplay his personal shortcomings at his job.

Eskom is greater than $20 billion in debt and has been pressured to chop electrical energy to South Africa’s companies and its 60 million folks, typically for as much as 12 hours a day. It has develop into the focus for criticism of the ANC, which has for years confronted allegations of involvement in corruption, particularly in state-run firms like Eskom.

The ANC is the get together of the late Nelson Mandela and the one get together to have ruled South Africa for the reason that finish of apartheid in 1994, though its recognition has steadily decreased and it faces nationwide elections subsequent 12 months the place its outright majority might be below menace.

While accepting that there have been hyperlinks to the ANC amid the graft at Eskom, Gordhan mentioned there have been additionally quite a lot of non-public South African and multinational firms “that were stealing from Eskom, to put it in plain and simple terms.”

“Eskom is not just a feeding trough for the ANC, as the former CEO alleges,” Gordhan mentioned.

Gordhan’s look in Parliament got here a day after Eskom sought to allay fears of a complete collapse of the nation’s electrical energy provide as issues develop over the rolling blackouts, which have develop into longer and extra common, additional hurting South Africa’s already struggling economic system.

Eskom mentioned in an announcement Monday that it had measures in place to keep away from a complete nationwide blackout amid fears that if South Africa’s electrical energy grid does go down, it may take days or perhaps weeks for the availability to return, shutting down the inventory change, banks and different vital establishments.

But power analyst Chris Yelland mentioned there was a “low probability” that the nationwide grid may collapse utterly.

“Eskom has detailed plans on how to prevent a national blackout, and how to recover from a national blackout,” Yelland mentioned. “Plans that are tested regularly. Even though they may be low probability events, one has to plan for it. It’s prudent.”

Various authorities estimates put the price of the ability blackouts to the nation’s economic system at round $52 million a day. The South African Reserve Bank has revised the economic system’s progress forecast for 2023 from 1.1% to 0.3% due to the ability disruptions.

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