President Cyril Ramaphosa owed an enormous debt of gratitude to former Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter who was hounded from office on Wednesday.

But the President did not lift a finger as De Ruyter was savaged by ANC Secretary General Fikile Mbalula and branded "De Traitor" by social media on his way out of the door.

De Ruyter was the man who helped secure the $8.5 billion Just Energy Transition Framework promise funded by developed nations at the Cop26 meeting.

That commitment will kickstart Ramaphosa's ambition to reduce our heavy reliance on coal-fired power and the move to a greener economy.

De Ruyter revealed this week that Eskom was being used to sabotage the Ramaphosa government.

But when the new board at Eskom decided to apply final stage load shedding to him the President was nowhere to be seen.

The public, facing severe power cuts, are up in arms at the notion that De Ruyter was fired for saying that Eskom had become a feeding trough for the political elite.

This was the same Ramaphosa who promised that those who exposed corruption in government would be protected.

Instead, it was left to Mbalula to brand De Ruyter a right-wing racist with ideological differences to the ANC and its government. He said he had been exposed as a failure.

"Mr de Ruyter was appointed strictly to lead the turnaround of Eskom into a functional public enterprise that provides the country with stable, reliable electricity.

"He has completely failed to deliver on this contractual obligation.

"Instead he shifts the goal posts by advertising his right-wing ideological posture on a matter that falls outside the scope of his employment.

"The question of whether the national energy utility is state-owned or not was never part of his contract."

Meanwhile De Ruyter, who survived an attempt on his life through poisoning last year, has said he might leave the country for fear of his safety.