Various sections of South African society suffered violent convulsions after former Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter’s interview with TV channel eNCA.
His supporters are angry that he was so exposed to the various criminal elements that have a stranglehold on Eskom and various state-owned entities and enjoy top political protection.
This is old news, as previous Eskom CEOs, senior executives and managers who were not part of the same ecosystem will tell you. The intimidation and threats of violence are extreme and have been for a very long time. I am, for lack of a better word, glad that more people are beginning to grasp what is really going on.
It’s a double standard, they say, because white South Africans are too happy to take failure for granted when a black face is involved but not so much when it is white
His detractors are upset with him for various reasons, including the tone and manner of his interview with eNCA. Yet more take issue with the veracity of his poisoning allegations, while others are aggrieved that white South Africans are up in arms to defend him when they had no such inclination when Phakamani Hadebe was hung out to dry. It’s a double standard, they say, because white South Africans are too happy to take failure for granted when a black face is involved but not so much when it is white.
These are matters that will likely continue to dominate public discourse, but I will not wade in on any of them. Instead, I will state why I am particularly delighted that he has left immediately. He should have left when he took the decision to resign.
South African politics has a culture of individualising institutional failure, allowing people who have been part of the problem for a long time to rebrand themselves as saviours. This culture has given us a string of scapegoats and built a false impression that all that is needed is a miracle worker who can leave the politico-criminal gangs who control the country in place and solve the problems that lead to public suffering at the same time.
De Ruyter was a distraction from the business of getting to accept the depth and permanence of our national crisis. I have been in public events where he has sounded optimistic, and I could only shake my head because he was either lying or being politically correct. I have always been almost certain that he will fail and leave in failure and bitterness. You cannot clean up Eskom with the gangster state still in place and reporting to it. I am not happy about being right because the suffering of poor South Africans is extreme, and becoming worse.
In the context of Eskom there are those who believe a “better” CEO will solve load-shedding but say nothing of Eskom’s dire finances and a deep culture of corruption and entitlement. There are Telegram channels made up of past and present Eskom senior staff where the language is deeply rooted in ANC factional politics, and any attempt to make people accountable is seen as a political act.
I know a senior manager at Eskom who often tells me “Songezo, akusetyenzwa eEskom”. Directly translated from Xhosa to English, this means “Songezo, no one works at Eskom”. It is an exaggeration for certain, but the point made is that there are too many people who live off the backs of the few who work. It is incredibly difficult to get rid of non-performers.
Another friend who works there was telling me how some plant procurement committees won’t sit for weeks, even though there is equipment and parts that need to be obtained urgently. Nothing is done to them because it may kick up a political hornet’s nest involving suppliers or WhatsApp or Telegram groups including past and current staff.
A company that is under the supervision and influence of a gangster political apparatus, is gridlocked by criminal gangs, who have many of its managers and staff on the take, can get the best turnaround specialist in the world. It will still not turn around, no matter how much the country’s chattering classes will them to.
I genuinely fear that we will have to get to a point where we have suffered so much more before people can see the problem for what it really is.
Eskom is not the only place where such an environment exists. Municipalities, which probably owe Eskom more than R55bn now, (R45bn in 2021) are similar. It is no coincidence that the auditor-general has run out of words to describe how toxic they are. When the minister of finance, Enoch Godongwana, referred to a “culture of non-payment” in his budget speech, I wondered if he was deliberately omitting to speak about the culture of financial mismanagement, theft and gangsterism in these municipalities.
They are not interested or able to do the work of holding the executive accountable, so they will, like the sheep they are, pass this budget without asking a single question about why there is no funding plan for Transnet
The other day, Transnet CEO Portia Derby had to endure embarrassing, obstinate and ill-informed posturing by ANC MPs who could not care enough to read the budget documents shared by their own colleague, Godongwana.
The Budget Review talks about “lack of funding” at Transnet, but somehow she must “solve it”. They are not interested or able to do the work of holding the executive accountable, so they will, like the sheep they are, pass this budget without asking a single question about why there is no funding plan for Transnet.
Later, the same people will shout at the South African Reserve Bank to “do something” about inflation without raising interest rates when the cause is higher costs of operating businesses due to collapsing infrastructure and a failing state.
Saying all this is heartbreaking for me because there are real human beings who suffer every day due to the real state of the country. Last week the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) greylisted South Africa. In simple terms, this means we no longer have the institutional capacity to detect, investigate and prosecute financial crimes, and our financial institutions can no longer be trusted to vouch for their clients’ non-criminal bona fides.
Simply put, they have seen how we cannot even prosecute the VBS case, with the only conviction arising out of a plea agreement. It takes many years to complete investigations, and even longer to secure convictions — if the cases ever get to trial. We are in the same category as war-torn, failed states.
The question is whether we will continue to scapegoat public officials who report to gangster politicians, such as whoever is unwise enough to accept the job of Eskom or Transnet CEO, or we will grow the resolve to remove the gangsters.
Make no mistake, such a political project, when it gains traction, will come with intimidation and killings. Corrupt ecosystems do not go down without a fight, and have zero appetite for prison.
It is our choice where South Africa goes next, not the next scapegoat CEO or some ANC politicians who are untrustworthy but have been repackaged as new.
Songezo Zibi is the convener of Rise Mzansi
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