André de Ruyter’s notice period, which was shortened by more than a month, is proof to AfriForum that De Ruyter’s increased public transparency about corruption at Eskom and who’s involved is the reason for this decision.
De Ruyter already submitted his letter of resignation in December and was only going to leave the energy giant at the end of March, but after an agreement at a special board meeting, he was sent packing with immediate effect.
Morné Mostert, Manager of Local Government Affairs at AfriForum, says that when it comes to tariff increases, the National Energy Regulator (Nersa) must take these allegations of corruption from someone with intimate knowledge thereof into account.
President Cyril Ramaphosa specifically mentioned corruption at Eskom in his State of the Nation Address (SONA) as well as on various other occasions saying that 43 arrests had already been made, besides all the credible revelations already made in the media.
“The effect being this dire loadshedding that the country is now facing. Why are these corrupt operations not considered when Nersa grants tariff increases of almost 20%? A question that needs to be answered.”
Dr Eugene Brink, Strategic Advisor for Community Affairs at AfriForum, says that De Ruyter has intimate knowledge of the power supplier, therefore, his allegations about high-ranking ANC officials’ involvement in Eskom’s corruption must be taken seriously.
“These are not the first allegations he has made about endemic corruption, and it is not just a so-called state capture problem. These allegations, and those of other whistle-blowers, should have been investigated earlier, but instead, it seems easier to just silence them.
“Eskom’s board failed the country and their organisation by terminating De Ruyter’s employment prematurely when they could have simply taken his and other role players’ allegations seriously and thus tried to save Eskom. This makes a mockery of Ramaphosa’s promises during the State of the Nation Address to do justice at Eskom and eradicate corruption,” concludes Brink.
Read the original article in Afrikaans on AfriForum
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Didn’t the president appoint De Ruyter in the first place..?….and not the board?. Then the president should have been the one to fire him and giving a long list of reasons. That the board did not react to investigate the crimes as mentioned, shows that the board members are actually part of the corruption syndicate and they had to remove the individual that may hinder them committing further crimes. The board should then be fired by the president and if he doesn’t do that then it implicates the president also as he is protecting the board that is protecting crimes committed.