Mantashe, Gordhan and Ramaphosa to blame for De Ruyter’s resignation amidst loadshedding disaster 

14 December 2022

There is little doubt that André de Ruyter resigned as Eskom CEO due to the continued belittling he received from Mineral Resources and Energy Minister, Gwede Mantashe, who has repeatedly questioned, stalled and blocked efforts by De Ruyter to clean up the power utility.

At the same time - instead of supporting De Ruyter - Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan chose to, again and again, throw him under the bus for load shedding taking place while President Cyril Ramaphosa did nothing to help De Ruyter’s clean-up campaign.

Meanwhile, it was not De Ruyter’s fault that Eskom was over years hollowed out, but he chose to take a salary cut in 2020 as his patriotic duty to South Africa.

It is, therefore, not surprising that De Ruyter chose to tender his resignation when he did not enjoy the political support to do the unpopular job of fixing a state-owned company that was one of the main coffers for the culprits of state capture.

His resignation will trigger further instability at Eskom as a replacement is sought while South Africans suffer under the national disaster of load shedding, which costs jobs, and leads to a rise in criminal behaviour.

De Ruyter will be the eleventh Eskom CEO since 2009, highlighting the leadership crisis at the utility and the complex demands of jobs. The public vitriol spewed against Eskom’s leadership by the ANC means that the job of Eskom CEO must be one of the least desirable positions in the country.

Load shedding remains one of the biggest disasters facing South Africa. Instead of paying attention to defend himself against Phala Phala and winning re-election, Ramaphosa should be spending all his time and attention fixing an issue which has been plaguing the country since 2007.  We only wish some ANC-leaders could act with the same integrity as De Ruyter did and resign from their posts.

Issued by Herman Mashaba, ActionSA President, 15 December 2022