Central Energy Fund slams Eskom’s De Ruyter for ‘misleading’ statements in interview
The Central Energy Fund (CEF) has slammed former Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter over damning comments he made during a television interview on eNCA.
The CEF denied De Ruyter’s “misleading” statement that after a visit by the Russian energy minister, the CEF approached Eskom to transfer three of its power stations to CEF for a regasification programme.
Admitting he was simply speculating, De Ruyter said during the interview: “About three months ago there was a visit by the Russian minister of energy to South Africa. Russia, as we know, is very long on gas following its invasion of Ukraine. It is looking for markets for gas, there is no doubt about that. It was quite interesting for me to observe how soon after we received a request from the Central Energy Fund to transfer three of our ageing power stations Camden, Hendrina and Grootvlei to [them], which by the way reports into the department of mineral resources & energy to convert those to gas.”
He continued: “Now maybe I am adding one and one and getting three, but in politics there is very seldom such a thing as a coincidence.”
In a scathing statement, the CEF said De Ruyter was reckless to go on national television and “make wild allegations about the request for collaboration with Eskom on the coal-fired power stations that Eskom intends to decommission, as he clearly says in the interview without evidence”.
“Instead of focusing on the content of the letter he is referring to that he received from CEF he elects to indulge in the realm of speculation,” said the company.
“De Ruyter is deliberately misleading in his response and hides behind the qualification that he makes before he proceeds not to tell the truth regarding CEF’s proposal for collaboration with Eskom on gas to power.
“It is also important to indicate that CEF clearly indicated to Mr De Ruyter that it is not wise for land to be auctioned off without thinking about optimising synergies within the state in relation to generation,” it said.
CEF's statement comes after Eskom announced that De Ruyter, who had been serving his notice until next month, had left Eskom with immediate effect.
The power utility issued a statement on Wednesday night saying the decision for De Ruyter's immediate exit came after a “special board meeting”.
De Ruyter had already faced backlash throughout the day from MPs, including public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan, for his utterances in the interview.
CEF said it remained ready to continue work with Eskom to deal with the power challenges.
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