ANC slams De Ruyter's 'opportunistic venture into the political arena'

The ruling party has lambasted former Eskom CEO André de Ruyter for “his opportunistic venture into the political arena”, saying it had “unmasked his regressive political and ideological agenda”.

The criticism follows De Ruyter's early departure from the state-owned entity (SOE) he was due to serve until the end of March. His exit comes after he was slammed by public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan for “meddling” in politics instead of focusing on ending load-shedding.

Gordhan's comments followed a controversial interview with eNCA journalist Annika Larsen in which De Ruyter made explosive allegations about the inner workings of the power utility and his experience as its captain.

ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula told De Ruyter that if he wanted to become a political player and undermine the efforts of the country, he should say so publicly so people were aware of his allegiances. 

“The CEOs of any entity, including Eskom, should not be involved in open political debates or assertions, and where they have political views, they must be kept private so they do not detract attention from their professional work,” he said.

Mbalula added that De Ruyter was appointed to lead Eskom to become a functional public enterprise that provided the country with stable, reliable electricity.

“He has completely failed to deliver on his contractual obligations. Instead, he shifts the goalposts by advertising his right-wing ideological posture on a matter that falls outside the scope of his employment contract,” Mbalula said.

He further slammed De Ruyter for questioning whether the power utility was state-owned.

The ruling party said it rejected the former CEO's “unfortunate, irresponsible and baseless claims of alleged political meddling and corruption at the embattled power utility”.

Mbalula further accused De Ruyter of attempting to shift blame for his shortcomings to others, saying the public should question why the former CEO only raised such allegations before his departure.

“If Mr De Ruyter has any evidence to the contrary, he is duty-bound to present it.

“We commend the tough actions taken by the SAPS, Hawks, SIU and other law-enforcement agencies to bring charges against corrupt persons inside and outside Eskom. They must be furnished with information to do their job,” said Mbalula.

He added that South Africans were “justifiably angry and upset that De Ruyter had been in charge during a period of declining performance and unacceptable levels of load-shedding”.

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