De Ruyter could see Eskom CEO job was to ‘collaborate with criminals’

As the storm over this week’s sudden dismissal of Eskom group chief executive André de Ruyter yesterday continues to dominate public debate, organisations of civil society, opposition parties and labour are blaming the ANC for failing to deal with the real issues.

Pushed out of Eskom by the board before the end of his tenure after revealing during a television interview that an ANC bigwig was involved in the corrupt activities at the utility, De Ruyter has come under severe attack from the ruling party and has been labelled “an Afrikaner nationalist”, “rightwing” and “a dismal failure”. He has been replaced by chief financial officer Calib Cassim “until further notice”.

ALSO READ: Who is Calib Cassim? Eskom’s interim CEO appointment sparks controversy

Amid the controversy, the Democratic Alliance said it has submitted a Promotion of Access to Information Act application to obtain “all information and evidence at Eskom’s disposal, regarding the alleged ANC kingpin behind the systemic corruption”.

De Ruyter must name and shame

Build One SA leader Mmusi Maimane said he has contacted De Ruyter imploring him “to publicly name and shame” the ANC politician behind Eskom graft.

Warning of “the crumbling of Eskom”, independent political analyst Sandile Swana said: “The risk of Eskom collapsing into a total blackout is real in South Africa. De Ruyter resigned last December, but was asked to stay on.

“He could see that the job of a CEO at Eskom was not to develop the entity into a competitive company or end load shedding, but to collaborate with criminals.

ALSO READ: Fired Eskom chief De Ruyter ‘a victim of a mafia world’

“Without removing crime and corruption from the levers of power, South Africa is going nowhere,” Swana said.

“The soon-to-be-elected government will have to retrieve Eskom from the depth of disaster – which was entirely avoidable.

“Now, they take a fellow who is a charted accountant with an MBA – nothing wrong with that if he is surrounded by technical experts.

“In as much as he is a temporary solution, you need to deepen the engineering and operating skills of power systems – not just general engineering knowledge.

“You need people who have worked with electricity utilities and infrastructure.”

ALSO READ: De Ruyter must put up – or shut up

Swana hailed De Ruyter as “the most credible voice on Eskom”.

“Every day-to-day function at Eskom was reported to him, giving him insight into maintenance schedules, every aspect of finance and security,” said Swana.

Missed opportunity

Expressing concern about the ANC response to the De Ruyter allegations, advocacy body Defend Our Democracy (DOD) said it was “troubling that, instead of dealing with the substance of the startling interview – in particular the damning allegations of ongoing corruption and capture in the energy sector – some South African politicians have instead attacked him”.

“What could have been an opportunity for uncovering alleged corruption and capture, became an opportunity to close political ranks in a bid to protect the governing party’s image,” said DOD spokesperson Nonkululeko Mntambo.

ALSO READ: ‘Eskom’s board failed’: De Ruyter’s corruption claims must be taken seriously and probed – AfriForum

In a letter to De Ruyter, Zwelinzima Vavi SA Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu) general secretary, said Saftu wished to establish whether any Eskom official reported the allegations to law enforcement agencies.

Part of the Saftu letter read: “The purpose of this letter is not to pit ourselves against you. Instead, we wish to take action against those responsible regarding the criminal activity you have described.

“You correctly linked these crimes to the notion of treason, given their dire effect on the economy.”

ANC in ‘serious pickle’

Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse CEO Wayne Duvenage said the ANC was “in a serious pickle – now attacking the man and not the ball”.

“While running the biggest public utility in South Africa, which contributes to the economy and somebody attempts to take his life in December, not even the president could say anything about De Ruyter,” said Duvenage.

ALSO READ: André de Ruyter leaves Eskom with immediate effect

He said the interim CEO arrangement could “not stay for too long”.

“The chief financial officer does not necessarily have depth in leadership to drive the business. He may be good at numbers but not in leadership qualities, we need to find the right person quickly, but that person should not be a lame duck, pandering to government whims.”

– brians@citizen.co.za