The African National Congress (ANC) has lashed out at former Eskom CEO André de Ruyter after he accused the party of enabling corruption at the beleaguered electricity utility.
Eskom announced De Ruyter’s early departure “with immediate effect” on Wednesday evening following an explosive interview.
De Ruyter, who resigned in December 2022, will leave his job on March 31.
He resigned following comments by the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources, Gwede Mantashe, that Eskom was “agitating to overthrow the country” for failing to deal with the load.
Interview
In an interview with eNCA, which aired on Tuesday, De Ruyter spoke openly about the widespread corruption at Eskom.
While De Ruyter admitted he had failed to address the load crisis, he said he believed Eskom was the ANC’s “feeding trough”.
“I would say the evidence points to that,” he said.
WATCH: Eskom is a ‘feeding trough’ for the ANC – De Ruyter
The former Eskom boss said he raised concerns with “senior government ministers” about efforts to “water” the government out of the $8.5 billion deal at COP26 to fund the country’s transition to cleaner, renewable energy sources.
However, the Cabinet member told him to be practical and “to achieve the greater good, you have to let some people eat a little”.
“So, yes, I think it’s entrenched,” added De Ruyter.
The ANC has since responded to De Ruyter’s comments, saying his remarks were “unacceptable”.
‘Opportunistic business’
In a media briefing after Wednesday’s Budget speech, ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula labeled De Ruyter a “naysayer” and a “failure”.
He said the ANC would not be swayed by the former Eskom CEO’s comments and accused him of engaging in politics.
“Opportunistic efforts in the political arena have exposed a regressive political agenda and ideology. If he wants to be a political player and undermine the efforts of patriotic South Africans – then he said it publicly and announced it so that everyone knows who he is aligned with.
“CEOs of any entity, including Eskom, should not engage in open political debates or statements, and where they hold political views, they should be kept private so that they do not know. [deflect] attention from professional work,” Mbalula said on Thursday.
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Mbalula pointed out that De Ruyter failed in his mandate to transform Eskom.
“However, he changed the goalpost by advertising a right-wing ideological posture on something that was not in his employment contract. The question of whether the national energy utility is state-owned or not was never part of his contract.
“It is the forte of the governing party and its ideological perspective on how best to ensure fair access to electricity as a public good,” he continued.
“We will not back down on this. We also reject the unfortunate, irresponsible, and baseless claims of political interference and corruption in power utilities. They are now trying to blame others for their own shortcomings.
Legal action
The ANC secretary-general said De Ruyter should report allegations of corruption to law enforcement agencies.
“We have to ask why he only raised these allegations when he left Eskom. If Mr De Ruyter has evidence to the contrary, he should be put to work,” he said.
“He should not say that the ANC wants a piece of the pie in terms of renewable energy and a just government transition programme. I challenge him to come to me when he gets it [evidence] and should go to the police.”
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Mbalula further threatened court action against De Ruyter.
“I will challenge him for saying that our party is corrupt and failing to prove it. I will not wait for some parliamentary committee to call him out.
“We will act and I will write to him through a lawyer that he must prove, within 10 or seven days, what he said. He must come, but we will meet in court.
Additional reporting by Faizel Patel.