South Africa: André De Ruyter Resigns As Eskom CEO

South Africa’s state power utility Eskom CEO André de Ruyter has resigned amid a worsening power supply crisis and the fragile electricity grid.

Multiple news sources indicate that De Ruyter informed Eskom’s chairperson, Mpho Makwana, about his resignation earlier this week.

The Board Chairperson, Makwana, relayed the information to the Minister for Public Enterprises, Pravin Gordhan.

His resignation follows an attack on Eskom last week by Mineral Resources and Energy, Minister Gwede Mantashe, who said the power utility was attempting to overthrow the government by failing to end load shedding, which first started over 15 years ago.

Mantashe said Eskom was “actively agitating for the overthrow of the state” with continued implementation of load shedding.

De Ruyter was appointed CEO of Eskom in December 2019, and his tenure saw him threaten to resign early on in his stint at the power utility, and state unequivocally last year that he would not resign.

De Ruyter has faced many detractors, some of whom—such as the Black Business Council and the National Union of Metalworkers—have called for his resignation in the past.

Before joining Eskom, De Ruyter had a 30-year career spanning various sectors both locally and internationally, as well as in various roles in the energy industry.

He has experience in the management of coal, oil, chemical and gas businesses.

His departure puts further pressure on Eskom, which has already seen a slew of top talent leave and has been struggling with a dearth of much-needed critical skills such as energy generation.

In a statement on Wednesday, Business Unity South Africa (Busa) said De Ruyter’s resignation is a “major blow” to Eskom, urging the utility’s board to speedily find a replacement, even if temporarily.

“The replacement must have the skills and capability to continue all efforts to reduce load shedding, accelerate the Eskom restructure, tackle ongoing corruption and sabotage and work with business to diversify the energy generation and distribution environment, with the focus on cleaner energy,” Busa CEO Cas Coovadia said.

“While this is a blow, it is hardly surprising, given the irresponsible comments by some in govt and some other sectors,” Coovadia said.

He commended De Ruyter for his efforts in his role at Eskom under circumstances he described as unbearable.

Western Cape Premier Alan Winde said its government has requested a meeting with De Ruyter, citing that his departure triggers a “deep anxiety” about the leadership at Eskom.

“Our deepest concern has been the distinct lack of urgency and leadership on this matter…”

“We are committed to doing all that we can as a provincial government to reduce the disastrous impact that an unreliable electricity supply is having on the Western Cape…,” said Winde.

He said the province is spending R36 million over the medium term on its municipal energy resilience programme, aimed at supporting municipalities, and the private sector, to both, generate and procure their power.

In contrast, the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) said energy availability has been at its worst levels under De Ruyter, saying that his resignation is long overdue.

“We demand that whoever replaces Andre De Ruyter must have an engineering background, and must also work for Eskom so that that person can understand all the technical aspects of this business,” Numsa said in a statement.

The union also called for Gordhan’s resignation, calling him an SOE wrecking ball.

“He must be replaced with someone who will not frequently violate good governance processes by interfering in the day-to-day running of SOEs,” it said.

Source: https://energynewsafrica.com