Former Eskom CEO Andre De Ruyter To Pay Bookstore for 15 Stolen Copies of His Book, 'Truth to Power'

• Eskom's former CEO Andre de Ruyter is "generously" offering to reimburse copies of his truth-exposing book about the crippled power supplier
• 15 copies of the best-seller, Truth to Power: My Three Years Inside Eskom, worth R350 were allegedly stolen from a Pretoria bookstore, resulting in a loss of more than R5 000
• The owner has labelled Andre's act "gracious", considering the theft is a financial setback on his end

PRETORIA - Former Eskom head Ander De Ruyter has made a "gracious" gesture to a Pretoria bookstore owner by offering to reimburse stolen copies of his whistle-blowing book valued at over R5 000.

It was alleged by bookstore owner Leonie van Rensburg of Graffiti Books that 15 copies of the Truth to Power: My Three Years Inside Eskom memoir retailing for R340 were stolen last week after a break-in. In a TimesLIVE report, Van Rensburg told Jacaranda FM that she received a phone call from Andre sharing the news.

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“When something like this happens to you, you are down in the dumps and know that there is nothing you can do about it, but then the positive ring to it is that there are still very good people out there and we really thank Mr De Ruyter for his generosity.”

Truth to Power: My Three Years Inside Eskom is doing very well reports show, even being called a best-seller

According to News24, the book's publisher Penguin Random House confirmed that the memoir broke the record set by The President's Keepers by selling 16 444 copies in its first week. This wa revealed in an audit revealed by Nielsen BookScan, which compiles SA's book sales lists.

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This truth-revealing book was not entirely well-received by some of the country's corporate giants

One company that found itself in scandal due to the secrets mentioned in the book is a private female and black-owned energy company, Econ Oil. In a report by IOL, the company refutes all allegations made in the book:

“It has been more than three years since Econ Oil first found itself at the centre of false allegations spearheaded by De Ruyter."

Another is Minister of Public Enterprises Pravin Gordhan, who was found a few times trashing the book:

Twitter had mixed reactions about the nature of the book. Some users empathised with Andre:

@NerdZulu was not phased by the release of the book:

"Andre de Ruyter has introduced a new standard for concealing incompetence, write a book about your life and conspiracy theories and omit to mention your failure to perform."

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@daegerton says the book caused some stress:

"Just finished reading André de Ruyter’s book, just reading it was quite stressful, don’t know how he managed to last the three years that he did!"

@AyandaMaqhoboza empathised with De Ruyter:

"The more I read Andre De Ruyter's book, the more I can't shake the feeling that maybe I owe him an apology. I criticised him a great deal over the last year."

@Qhama__B had a change of opinion about the former head:

"I may not like how Andre De Ruyter carries himself. Especially towards the end of his tenure at Eskom. But it looks like most of the allegations he made in his book are indeed true. But his book paints a picture of a man who was constantly fighting fires. EVERYWHERE! He is probably the most efficient CEO."

A report about some Eskom scandals that didn't make it into the book

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In a recent Briefly News report, a senior Eskom employee was investigated for involvement in ensuring breakdowns in certain power stations.

Police Minister Bheki Cele revealed in an interview with City Press that leaked WhatsApp messages formed part of the investigation into the executive's alleged involvement.

A BusinessTech report confirmed that the leaked messages were between the unnamed executive and co-conspirators who openly discussed plans to sabotage power stations.

Source: Briefly News