Interview confirms the government and its ANC cronies are criminals
In an interview with e.tv aired on Tuesday, 21 February, outgoing Eskom CEO André De Ruyter said it appeared Cabinet members were aware of and accepted widespread corruption at the embattled power utility.
De Ruyter was asked in the e.tv interview whether Eskom was an ANC “feeding trough”. “I would say the evidence suggests that it is,” he responded.
De Ruyter said he told a minister, who he did not name, he was concerned about attempts to “water down” governance of the $8.5 billion deal reached at COP26 to fund the country’s just transition to cleaner and renewable energy sources.
De Ruyter said the Cabinet member told him to be practical and that “in order to pursue the greater good, you have to let some people eat a little bit”.
“Following the convening of a special board meeting on 22 February 2023, the Eskom Board and group chief executive Andrè de Ruyter have reached mutual agreement to curtail his notice period to 28 February 2023,” Eskom said in a statement.
De Ruyter’s immediate departure from Eskom was announced on Wednesday night following his comments which alleged widespread corruption at Eskom was being masked and protected by the ANC.
The ANC in a typical response by a guilty party said De Ruyter had failed in his mandate to turn Eskom around and instead had begun venturing into politics. Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan said: “I think it’s a well-known and undeniable fact that corruption has been a feature both in Eskom and many other entities across government and of course the private sector.”
In a statement, the power utility says De Ruyter’s departure follows a special board meeting yesterday. It was in that meeting where Eskom says it was resolved that De Ruyter will not be required to serve the balance of his notice period until 31 March 2023.
An analysts said “He should have done this interview after he left. This way everyone would think he is just a bitter old CEO. But now the public knows how much ANC are plundering this country.” Losing elections seems to be the least of these criminals (politicians) concerns. It is sickening to watching these criminals we call politicians destroy our country.
Now a clear moment where the actions, or non-actions of President Ramaphosa will show where he truly stands on corruption. Surely any President of even moderate integrity would want to get to the bottom of who exactly is his thieving fellow cabinet minister? There are no tangible plans to arrest the rot. André Marinus de Ruyter is a South African businessman who previously worked at Sasol and Nampak. In December 2019, he was appointed CEO of Eskom, South Africa’s state-owned electricity company. On 14 December 2022, it was reported that he will step down as CEO of Eskom in March 2023.
