PHUTI MOSOMANE
ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula says outgoing Eskom chief executive officer Andre de Ruyter has been exposed as a ‘right-wing fanatic’ who failed to transform the power utility.
Mbalula was responding to shocking and ‘politically charged’ comments made by De Ruyter during a wide-ranging interview with broadcaster, eNCA.
“Mr De Ruyter was appointed strictly to lead the turnaround of Eskom into a functional public enterprise that provides the country with stable, reliable electricity. He has completely failed to deliver on this contractual obligation,” Mbalula said during a media briefing in Cape Town on Thursday.
“He is now trying to shift the blame from his own short comings to other people. We must ask why he is only raising these ridiculous allegations when he leaves Eskom. Instead, he shifts the goalposts by advertising his right-wing ideological posture on a matter that falls outside the scope of his employment contract.”
During the interview with eNCA’s anchor Annika Larsen, De Ruyter made shocking allegations against a high-level ANC leader and that the ANC was benefitting from the corruption at Eskom.
This as the national power utility remains in a state of collapse, with rolling blackouts plaguing the country’s economy and citizens’ day-to-day lives.
“His opportunistic venture into the political arena has unmasked his regressive political and ideological agenda. If he wants to become a political player and undermine the efforts of patriotic South Africans – then let him say so publicly and declare for all to know who he is aligned with. The CEOs of any entity, including Eskom, should not be involved in open political debates or assertions, and where they have political views, they must be kept private matter so that they don’t detract attention from their professional work,” said Mbalula, adding that his comments were completely unacceptable.
“People told us many things about him and his incompetence at Eskom. But we defended him. We were asked why we employed someone who has refused to be vetted. Others said we are afraid of white people. Reports are now coming out that he did not accede to being vetted.”
Eskom announced on Wednesday night that De Ruyter will be leaving the power utility with immediate effect after he revealed that a key ANC figure was behind alleged fraud and corrupt activities at Eskom.
He was meant to leave Eskom on 31 March after resigning in December last year.
During the ‘fireside’ TV interview, De Ruyter told Larsen: “Evidence suggests that Eskom is the ANC’s feeding trough. I expressed my concerns to a senior government minister about attempts, in my view, to water down governance around the $8.5 billion that, by and large, through Eskom’s intervention at COP26. And the response was essentially — you know, you have to be pragmatic — you have to — in order to pursue the greater good, you have to enable some people to eat a little bit.”
But Mbalula reacted angrily to these comments, and said the party strongly rejected the claims.
“He had a choice to say Eskom as a power utility is state-owned, I am a right-wing regressive individual and I therefore do not believe in the policy of this government, I do not think my ideas fit here, I won’t apply. Even if he was head hunted, De Ruyter should have rejected the job,” said Mbalula.
The ANC Secretary-General said De Ruyter was retiring in a place that he has failed to transform with a “big failure written all over”.
“Let’s talk about his ideology. What is it that he believes in that the government has refused to implement in terms of addressing the challenges at Eskom? We don’t know. He only refers to whether the ghost of Lenin and Karl Marx still exists and that we call each other comrades. That is De Ruyter’s regressive ideological posture. What he has done is repulsive. If he doesn’t believe in Lenin and Marx, he is the opposite of it, right wing,” he said.
Mbalula said the ANC’s focus and interest has always been on the delivery of key responsibilities given to him, including “ending loadshedding” and turning around the power utility.
“We are not apologetic for being multi-class and multi-ideological formation. We are unique in our very nature. We have communists, capitalists and socialists in our ranks. We believe in a Mixed Economy and that’s who we are,” he said.
Mbalula announced that the governing party will take legal action against De Ruyter within the next few days if the former Eskom CEO did not prove his claims that the ANC was corrupt.
He said the party’s legal team is looking into the matter.
“Our lawyers are looking into his allegations. We are going to take legal action against the CEO. That man must prove what he said about us. He must prove the ANC is corrupt. We are not corrupt. The ANC is not corrupt,” said Mbalula.
On Thursday, Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Mineral Resources and Energy, Sahlulele Luzipo, said De Ruyter was incapable of leading the power utility and that he could not deliver on his mandate.
INSIDE POLITICS
