Cape Town — Eskom CEO Andre De Ruyter was planning on leaving embattled power utility in March 2023 but hurried his exit after an explosive interview in which he spoke on the situation at Eskom.
In the interview with eNCA, De Ruyter didn't pull any punches as he spoke of alleged corruption, theft, mismanagement, and the several cover-ups of crime at the power utility, which he said resulted in the misery of power cuts (load shedding) that has intensified in frequency over the past few months. Many businesses, particularly small businesses, are heavily impacted, many closed or retrenched staff, and navigating around power cuts for ordinary South Africans is a daily challenge.
De Ruyter took the reins at the parastatal at a time when load shedding was worsening. The company was mismanaged for years and De Ruyter said he tried peeling away the layers of corruption at Eskom - from coal purchasing tenders that were irregularly awarded, to crumbling infrastructure. De Ruyter said that Eskom loses R1 billion per month to corruption. De Ruyter also spoke of the theft of diesel, needed to keep power stations running and sabotage at power stations - by Eskom employees that resulted in the South African National Defence Force being called in to protect vulnerable power stations. Although arrests were made in certain instances, many other cases have not been dealt with. De Ruyter also spoke of threats made on his life, including a cyanide poisoning.
The power utility has debt amounting to R423 billion and Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana said government will provide a bailout to halve that debt. South Africans have, over the years, been slapped with a further hike in electricity tariffs.
But what seemed to be the straw that broke the proverbial camel's back was when Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe accused De Ruyter of wanting to unseat the government by implementing power cuts.
Reactions From Political Parties
Minister of Transport Fikile Mbalula called for De Ruyter to provide evidence for his claims of ANC involvement in corruption at Eskom, Eyewitness News reports. "If he's got anything that says ANC is corrupt, he must then produce evidence."
Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana has also said that De Ruyter was "economical with the truth". He said: "When the issues of corruption was raised with the government, an investigation was done, and it was found that yes indeed there is some syndicates in particular in Mpumalanga, which also included the police," Eyewitness News reports.
"What government did was to set up a task team, they've just moved into Megawatt [Park]. They've arrested a number of people because of that. I find it difficult to take that statement."
Western Cape Premier Alan Winde of the Democratic Alliance expressed his shock at De Ruyter's immediate termination as group CEO - a move brought by De Ruyter's "courage" in speaking out about corruption at Eskom, he said.
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Congress of the People' Dennis Bloem said sabotage at the utility was a disgrace."De Ruyter has a constitutional duty to expose all those he knows who are involved in corruption and sabotage at Eskom. It is a disgrace how the ANC has systematically destroyed Eskom over the past 28 years."
ActionSA's Herman Mashaba said the ANC needed to be held accountable. "The ANC is a criminal syndicate that exists only to line its own pocket. Mo amount of rehabilitation or musical chairs of its leadership will ever be able to change the entrenched corruption within the ANC."
The Black Business Council welcomed De Ruyter's exit. "Mr. De Ruyter has been a monumental failure who brought the economy of South Africa to its knees. Mr. De Ruyter's unnecessary attention-seeking noise was becoming an irritating distraction that the country does not need," said the council's Kganki Matabane.
