Politics

State Won’t Fire Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter Out of Fear of Undue Interference, Says Mabuza

Friday, October 21, 2022 at 11:37 AM by Lerato Mutsila 3 min read

Deputy President David Mabuza said that government has no say in whether Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter stays or goes
Mabuza told the National Council of Provinces that it was the power utility's board who had to decide to fire the CEO
This comes as civil society and several political parties are calling for De Ruyter to be axed amid crippling loadshedding

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JOHANNESBURG - Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter's fate is firmly in the hands of the power utility's board because the executive cannot interfere.

Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter and Deputy President David Mabuza — Deputy President David Mabuza says it's the job of Eskom's board to fire CEO Andre de Ruyter, not the executive. Image: RODGER BOSCH & Waldo Swiegers
Source: Getty Images

This is according to Deputy President David Mabuza, who told the National Council of Provinces on Thursday, 20 October, that government's hands are tied when comes to firing De Ruyter.

Mabuza added that the newly-appointed Eskom board is responsible for reviewing De Ruyter's performance and axing him if they feel the CEO's performance is not up to par, TimesLIVE reported.

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The question of the power utility CEO's fate comes as De Ruyter's performance has been placed under a magnifying glass amid crippling stages of loadshedding.

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On Thursday, ANC KZN provincial secretary Bheki Mtolo and his Limpopo counterpart, Reuben Madadzhe, conducted a joint press conference where they called for De Ruyter to be sacked.

The pair said that De Ruyter's poor performance as CEO at the ailing power utility cannot go unpunished and placed the blame of loadshedding squarely on his shoulders, The Citizen reported.

However, Mabuza insisted that government did its part in appointing a complete, new and capable board and added that the rest was up to the board.

Mabuza claims that the executive hopes the board will perform due diligence and adopt a zero-tolerance stance on poor performance.

South Africans react to Deputy President Mabuza's statement

South Africans think Mabuza's claim that government can't fire De Ruyter is a cop-out as the executive shows interest when it suits them.

Here are some comments:

@davidchiwerera said:

"Hmmmmmm... In election season, anything is possible, kudos and all the best to the power utility!"

@fubar_mielies retorted:

"Doing anything at Eskom will have ZERO effect until the ANC is fired."

@growthpundit commented:

"How's that for supporting someone who's trying to overcome the ANC-created mess? You can't ever, ever, ever trust the ANC."

@Robinfield19 added:

"What utter nonsense - gov hands were not tied when they stuffed 6x more ghost jobs into Gov & SOEs to try and keep the job numbers from reflecting the 70% that are genuinely unemployed."

Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter complains about crooked suppliers selling power utility bad coal

In another story, Briefly News reported that Andre de Ruyter, Eskom's CEO, said the high demand for coal has made it profitable for corrupt suppliers to cheat the power utility.