LETTER FROM DM168 EDITOR
De Ruyter cannot just sashay into the sunset on his plane after dropping his Eskom corruption bombshells
Eskom CEO André De Ruyter’s bombshell exit interview requires him to follow up with action and evidence, and it should not amplify polarised racist thinking, or end debates on how to improve the lives of people living within a democratic society.
Dear DM168 readers,
The explosive interview that recently resigned Eskom CEO André De Ruyter had with Anneke Larsen on eTV cannot be left hanging like dirty laundry on South Africa’s saggy washing line.
I sincerely hope that De Ruyter has evidence for his bombshells that about R1-billion a month is still being lost to corruption, and that Eskom is still a feeding trough for the ANC.
And I especially hope that he has the courage and evidence to report to the Hawks, the NPA and its Independent Directorate, whoever the senior ANC politician he alleges is a kingpin in the pillage of Eskom and the minister, that he claims, knows about it.
If De Ruyter just sashays into the sunset on his plane to somewhere far, far away from the dangerous murky mess he spoke of, without handing over details to be investigated and prosecuted, then his tell-all on Tuesday would be seen as the sour grapes of a failed CEO, the silver fox who tried but failed in his mandate to fix the power utility.
Only those in the ANC who seek scapegoats for their own failures will blame De Ruyter for the Stage 6 verging on Stage 7 rolling blackouts bout that has beset us during his truncated term as CEO.
Those like Minister of Minerals and Energy Gwede Mantashe, who accused Eskom of agitating to overthrow the state by not attending to rolling blackouts.
Wilfully fleecing Eskom
This is not just absurdly laughable but ironic because the only people responsible for rolling blackouts are the saboteurs and crooks who are wilfully fleecing Eskom, like the person De Ruyter mentioned was found buying kneeguards worth R320 a pair for R80,000 a pair, but was released by the police.
We also know from Thabo Mbeki, the only ANC president I can recall who apologised to the public, that our energy woes stem from the ANC not listening to Eskom leadership at the turn of the century, who warned that government needed to invest more in electricity to keep up with the country’s rapid growth and the electrification needs of the majority of the population who were neglected during apartheid.
“Eskom was right and government was wrong,” Mbeki said.
The problem is when the ANC did act to build new coal-fired power stations, they acted in self-interest.
In 2015, Hitachi Ltd was fined $19-million by the Securities and Exchange Commision for violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, when it inaccurately recorded improper payments to the ANC, in connection with contracts to build Medupi and Kusile. What happened to the ANC in regard to this? Nothing. We the people voted the party back into power over and over again.
So Fikile Mbalula, Pravin Gordhan and the Eskom Board chair are all totally disingenuous with their outrage at De Ruyter’s revelations of Eskom being an ANC feeding trough. They know it. We know it. De Ruyter failed to fix it. His poor predecessor Phakamani Hadebe collapsed twice at work and suffered ill health, as a result of just a year into trying to fix it.
Read more on Daily Maverick: ‘We challenge you’ – ANC’s Fikile Mbalula calls on André de Ruyter to provide evidence for ‘baseless’ corruption claims at Eskom
Whoever is the next CEO of Eskom is set up to fail over and over again because it seems there is really no political will from the leaders of the party whose members, friends and family extract benefit from fleecing the utility.
And it’s not just the fleecers who stand in the way of attempts to fix Eskom. Towering over it all is Minister Pravin Gordhan, who despite the government’s decision to unbundle Eskom into distribution, generation and transmission, appears to have been a stumbling block to its implementation.
One of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s energy advisors Anton Eberhard wrote as much in Business Day: “The president initially invested much political capital in persuading social partners that unbundling Eskom made economic sense. Yet Gordhan has always been less than enthusiastic, preferring a Band-Aid to Eskom’s ill-health rather than radical surgery, his ideological worldview clouding a clear appreciation of the benefits of structural reforms.”
When De Ruyter spoke of ANC ministers speaking a Marxist-Leninist language last heard in the 80s, he could easily have been referring to Gordhan. We know he also bumped heads with other SOE heads such as former SAA CEO Vuyani Jarana, who left saying that one of his key areas of concern was the slow speed of decision-making, and the high levels of bureaucracy, as well as former Post Office CEO Mark Barnes.
This is the ANC’s broad church conundrum. It speaks about the need to modernise, corporatise and privatise, its members rush to feed off the tender trough and indulge in the most crass conspicuous consumption, but its leadership is stuck in its mindset that only the state can deliver.
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How can you cling to this belief in the throes and aftermath of state capture, with all the SOEs and state departments falling around you like dominoes, defies sense or logic? But there you have it.
Don’t get me wrong, I do think the state, if well-managed and staffed with caring and competent professionals who have an ethos of serving the people, can have a positive role to play. But the state does not have the hegemony on thought or innovation to fix our problems.
Free market and trickle-down economics
I am not one of those who believes in the alternative of an unfettered, free market and trickle-down economics, where the rich get richer and the poor get screwed, but GDP looks good on paper.
I also don’t think referring to thugs and criminals as lumpenproletariat is as strange or as arcane as André de Ruyter made it to be in his interview. He clearly was not exposed to economic or sociological debates between liberals and marxists when he studied at the University of Pretoria or Unisa.
I hope that de Ruyter’s interview and exit does not amplify polarised racist thinking, or end debates on how to improve the lives of people living within a free and democratic society.
Socialism or social democracy as ideas are not the bogeymen here – it is greed and corruption, and the mafiosa myopia of steal now and don’t worry about the future that is the problem.
We need open minds that go beyond ideological isms and entrenched positions to solve the giant hairy problems of inequality, jobless growth and invasive corruption that our country faces.
The one cause of our current energy woes that I do not think the ANC should ever apologise for, is ensuring that black people who were kept in darkness by apartheid, were given access to electricity.
Today’s challenge is how to keep the lights on for all of us without choking our economy, our environment and our sanity. I hope for all of our sakes that the people we vote into power next year understand this.
Read our astute economics Business Maverick writer Ray Mahlaka on the impact of De Ruyter’s revelations on Eskom’s future in this week’s DM168.
And as usual, I invite you to join the debate on how to fix what’s broken in our country beyond the entrenched ideological isms that prevent us from seeing eye to eye or listening to alternative views. Write to me at [email protected]
Yours in defence of truth and light
Heather
This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper, which is available countrywide for R25.
Dr Ruyter is not beholden to anyone now: he did his best, said his piece and now he’s gone, and good luck to him. The issue is that he said what many others know or strongly suspect, so let them blow the whistle. The debate is not about extreme toxic capitalism versus anything else, but deep corruption and a Stalinist tendency to centralize power, along with loyalty to the party being the number one skill. With the technology available, especially AI analytics, cell phone records and an indelible digital footprint, it cannot be that hard to discover anomalies, links and corruption. But, there is no political will: Why? Because top politicians are implicated. As for Mbeki: he has never apologized for his HIV/AIDS denialism and most of these incompetents and crooks were encouraged and protected by him. Remember the arms deal?
I think that after being poisoned and abandoned by the country’s ‘leadership’ Mr De Ruyter has displayed more than enough courage already – he deserves a break from a job that carried a weight and toll that frankly neither you or I could begin to fathom. As far as his comments on the comrades ageing Marxist ideologies and the irrelevance that they carry in todays modern world and to South Africa’s population at large, one has only to look across our borders to the beret clad dictators who have desperately tried to model themselves on the Che Guevara’s and Mao Tse Tungs of the world to see that this story doesn’t end happily for either them or the people. They are indeed an embarrassment.
If Mr de Ruyter had any sense, he WOULD and ought to “sashay into the sunset”, together with his family.
I have little doubt, given the propensity by the ANC/SACP for violence, that further attempts on his life will follow.
Aside from the “sashaying into the sunset” phrase, this article was confusing, confused, and made little sense to me.
The irony is that none of what de Ruiter says matters. It is literally “white noise”.
ZA is on a hiding to nothing trajectory. Cause of death? Drowning in incompetence and ignorance.
Get on your plane Mr de Ruiter. Enjoy your life – and dont forget to send us postcards.
I’m sure anyone who listened to exactly what De Ruyter said in his interview they will consider the idea that maybe much evidence has already been lodged with the relevant authorities?
My take away was that his main problem was that, despite presenting evidence, no action was being taken by enforcement bodies.
So rather than trying to pin even more on the one person in this affair who has been actively combating the problem maybe, as a bare minimum, take a moment out to start tracking the DA’s PAIA request?
That said, the DA’s strategy seems to be a purely political play and appears to be limited to trying to rack up an easy win in parliament by identifying and embarrassing a senior minister.
Given this will not be enough to result in a meaningful impact mayhap some concerned journalist(s) could also start thinking about which requests need to be filed to get access to the full record of information shared by Eskom to enforcement agencies during De Ruyter’s tenure?
Leave the man alone, he has made his contribution. Moreover he has done this at the risk of his own life and the cost of an indefinite period of exile for himself and his family.
De Ruyter may not be a Joe Slovo but it would be disingenuous to claim that South Africa has ever been the kind of country where choosing to, as you call it, “sashay into the sunset” demonstrates an unwillingness to perform their duty.
De Ruyter could have 2 motivations for the interview – set himself up for his soon to be published book, or it was a last desperate throw of the dice to outrage the voting public regarding the total collapse by corruption. To me it was the latter, he has exhausted all other options of bringing criminals to book, but found no will or competence in the relevant authorities after numerous failed engagements as stated. He plainly stated such in an previous interview. Does he want to risk protracted legal proceedings and his life by dropping names? Clearly he knows he’ll come up short, and not because of lack of evidence.
De Ruyter exposed a lot of the corruption in his book “Sabotage” published at least a year ago. Surely if the ANC was concerned they would have acted after those (albeit more subtle) exposures.
The fact that the current ANC NEC and cabinet both include numerous individuals tainted by damming evidence at the Zondo Commission, indicates corruption is acceptable within the ANC. I don’t believe there is a grasp of the concept of INTEGRITY. I think the ANC perception of integrity is “If you are caught and found guilty in a court of law, only then is your integrity questioned.” The principle of doing the right thing even when no one is looking, or whether the law requires it, is a standard far too high for ANC cadres.
I think that one of the most important statements made by de Ruyter was that they had developed a 10 year plan to transition to renewables, but that the plan received almost no support from the ANC and Mantashe went out of his way to thwart that plan. The ANC, and particularly Mantashe, only have an immediate horizon, one in which they can loot and pillage at will for near term enrichment, using the corrupt cadres they have put in place. Imagine the ANC with a 10 year plan, that they stick to, fund, and reach the end goal. What a joke. The ANC couldn’t plan or implement anything meaningful, unless it involved more looting, and appointing more under-skilled cadres to positions of importance.
Dear Heather, I am disappointed in the way you come across, questioning wheter De Ruiter has any real evidence and why doesnt he go to the Hawks etc
De Ruiter has mountains of evidence, his problem is how what where to submit it, into a system that protects criminals
Every one knows what he is saying is true, but if the mighty Zondo Commission is spinning its wheels, what chance will a “De Ruiter Commission” have.
His attempts to share it at Ministerial level, obviously, “how we gonna deal with this”, led to a rebuff. That after being dropped by Gweze, Cyril, and Pravin, was the last straw for him to give the lot of them the middle finger.
He was up against a system that doesn’t want to be fixed, very, very, sad for all of us.
Oh and just for the record, the threats against him and his family required permanent body guards while he was in the hornets’ nest. He is hounded into what you call the “sunset” driving a bullet proof vehicle.
Providing evidence of wrong doing is meaningless inSouth Africa today.
Name one instance where evidence has resulted in change/justice/accountability…the Zondo commission is just one of many examples where evidence of corruption and wrong doing has gone nowhere!
Twenty six hours later and my comment is still “awaiting moderation” Really? Don’t bother – these topics have a shelf life!
Editor not like being called out?
To Jane Crankshaw, exactly what I said re Zondo Commission spinning its wheels
I think he has seen what happens to whistle blowers in south africa.
He has also seen what happens when you have mountains of evidence of wrong doing and the case moves into our legal system.
Him staying and trying to make a case will have the same effect as blowing bubbles in the bath.
He did the right thing. Calling him out on ‘sashaying into the sunset’ is a cheap shot taken from an easy position.
This article seems confused. There is evidence enough out there. De Ruyter is in grave danger and still gave a calm measured interview to alert us to the dangers. That he did so was heroic. The ANC would love their day in court to squander more of our money to pauperise De Ruyter with their stalingrad lawyer tactics. He has done more than enough. By the way lumpen proletariat doesn’t mean crooks and thugs to a communist. It means the workers. So de Ruyter was saying they showed cynical disregard for their support base when they used this expression.
Does the editor expect De Ruyter to sacrifice his life or maybe the life of a family member? Other recent articles suggest Pravin Gordhan is fully aware of the cabinet ministers (there are apparently two) involved in corruption at Eskom. De Ruyter had private investigators working on it after being rebuffed by the top brass at SAPS, so I am sure there is evidence. Let’s hope Ramaphosa wakes from his slumber soon and fires them. To Mr De Ruyter, thank you for all your hard work and we appreciate your sacrifices. Sorry you had to be poisoned for your troubles. You were clearly causing great difficulty for the crooks trying to loot Eskom. Stay safe and enjoy your travels.
What a strange piece. I am not sure what the writer’s point is? I think De Ruyter can do what he absolutely feels free to do. Someone who was prepared to take risks, question and provide the country with a good plan to renewables was poisoned, threatened and whatever else he had to endure and you think he should stay here and provide evidence. I mean imagine trying to report a crime because you have been poisoned and the cops think you have sinusitis! My love, you should read the rest of this newspaper and you will see that De Ruyter has left a whole and comprehensive trail of evidence – what will be done about it is the question? Strange, strange article.