Cape Town – Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen has praised Eskom’s former chief executive officer Andre de Ruyter, calling him a “national hero” for unveiling the large-scale corruption at the power utility during a television interview this week.
De Ruyter, who was due to leave the company next month, resigned with immediate effect on Wednesday amid the country’s worsening electricity crisis.
Following the interview, De Ruyter received much criticism from the governing African National Congress (ANC), with the party secretary-general Fikile Mbalula labelling him as incompetent.
Mbalula called for de Ruyter to provide evidence of his corruption allegations, EWN reported.
“If he’s got anything that says ANC is corrupt, he must then produce evidence. He doesn’t. He refers to individuals who have made remarks…. It is him who was supposed to follow up as the CEO and say ‘Minister, I think your conversation is unethical.
Andre De Ruyter is a national hero for having the courage and conviction to stand up against the criminal syndicate that is the ANC national government. I applaud and thank him for showing the bravery we all need to fix South Africa.
— John Steenhuisen MP (@jsteenhuisen) February 23, 2023
“Now I must go around chasing ghosts, following up on a statement by an individual who has proved his incompetence,” the report quoted Mbalula as saying.
But taking to social media, Steenhuisen thanked De Ruyter for his bravery in exposing the “criminality in the ANC national government”.
“Andre De Ruyter is a national hero for having the courage and conviction to stand up against the criminal syndicate that is the ANC national government. I applaud and thank him for showing the bravery we all need to fix South Africa,” he wrote in a tweet.
He alleged that de Ruyter was fired with immediate effect for exposing the ruling party’s corruption
“Andre de Ruyter blew the whistle on the ANC-created Eskom crisis and was fired with immediate effect only because he verified what South Africans already know to be true: Luthuli House is the scene of the Eskom crime, and Ramaphosa and his cabinet are the perpetrators.” he said another tweet.
De Ruyter resigns immediately: Good riddance! pic.twitter.com/h64Nc2YR51
— Floyd Shivambu (@FloydShivambu) February 22, 2023
However, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) did not share the same sentiments, as it shared its disapproval of De Ruyter and labelled him as “useless” in a statement following his resignation.
The party said that the former Eskom CEO was “hellbent on collapsing” the power utility’s generation capacity.
“He went around conferences and workshops to champion Independent power producers as though he were a sales mascot hired by banks that poured money into renewable projects.
“He found Eskom Medupi and Kusile build projects at an advanced stage with challenges that could have been resolved to bring them online far quicker, but he failed to complete these projects,” read the statement.
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Compiled by Olwethu Mpeshe
