Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe says that former Eskom CEO André de Ruyter "must not throw a stone in a bush and hope an animal will come out" - he must name the politicians he claimed were corrupt. 

Mantashe was briefing Parliament's portfolio committee on mineral resources and energy on Friday. He was asked by MPs to respond to the claims by De Ruyter in a recent interview, in which it was alleged that "a top politician" was involved in corruption at Eskom.

De Ruyter also claimed that when informed, the government did nothing about the corruption at Eskom and that the company was a feeding trough for the ANC.

"All we need from our side is that he must not throw a stone in the bush. He must say Minister X has said this; Minister Y has asked for a cut and said and done this. That is all we want from our side because this thing of throwing a stone in the bush and hoping an animal will come running out [is wrong], he said.

Mantashe also criticised De Ruyter for allowing Eskom to lose "market share" by allowing the performance of the coal-powered power stations to decline at a time when independent power producers also entered the market. 

"Any CEO must be worried about losing market share and therefore look after the current generation capacity at his disposal. If you don't look after those, you will not retain market share," he said. 

Mantashe said he was looking forward to the appointment of an electricity minister who would be responsible for ending loadshedding.

"There are six power stations with an energy availability factor [EAF] of less than 50%. In that process, we lose above 7 000MW. So if we want to deal with loadshedding, there must be an emphasis on optimising the power stations that are available and connected to the grid," he said.

While "renewable energy lobbyists" claimed that additional renewable energy would end loadshedding, this was a "myth" as new projects have a lead time of 12 to 18 months or more. 

"If you want to deal with loadshedding, then it is not renewable energy that can do it."

The electricity minister will focus on Eskom accelerating optimal performance; accelerate the procurement of emergency energy; ensure that SA is able to import electricity from neighbouring countries, and put a greater focus on acquiring skills for Eskom. 

Asked about the likelihood of contracting a power ship to supply emergency power, Mantashe said the fact that Karpowership had not yet gained environmental approval was "a different department's responsibility".

"We approved them because we thought they could help. People said they are expensive, but at R2.70 a unit, there is nothing expensive about that. If you reduce the length of the contract to 10 years, then it is equal to R1,34 a unit and there is nothing expensive about that."