WE’VE all seen it unfold after then Eskom CEO André de Ruiter had an open and honest interview with Annika Larsen on her weekly show for e.tv and eNCA. Far too open and honest for the liking of the ANC, whence the angry outbursts, threats and insults soon exploded.
Gwede Mantashe, friend of Russia and Big Coal, grumbled forth on his established thesis that De Ruiter should not try and be a cop, he should do his job (having had already used the “sabotage” slander). Pravin Gordhan, despite normally showing fair judgment, now angrily lectured De Ruiter for “meddling” in politics. That’s not his job; he should focus on load-shedding, of course.
Dozens of “experts” agreed that de Ruiter was not qualified for his job at Eskom. Why? Simple. He is not an engineer. The mind boggles.
Any number of talking heads on TV, I noticed one identified as “Business Leader” and the TV host “Professor” JJ Tabane among them, now revealed that De Ruiter was a serial failure – he had failed at Sasol and he had failed at Nampak, so of course he would fail at Eskom. And oh dear, somehow De Ruiter was also responsible for the difficulties at Lake Charles in the United States, although, factually, that happened after he left Sasol. And just by the way, those challenges were met and resolved admirably by Sasol.
As far as I know, De Ruiter was headhunted from Nampak, where he was CEO, and he left in good standing with relations intact.
What I know for sure, having spoken to a senior executive at Sasol who had worked with De Ruiter, is that he was respected as a highly effective executive and a man of integrity and honesty. He left on a friendly footing and with his colleagues’ best wishes.
So much for that dump of nastiness.
As for being a cop getting his hands dirty in politics instead of doing his job, the irony is delicious. His job was chief executive and his priority was to save the South African economy from the destruction caused by loadshedding. And it was, as you no doubt know, dear reader, exactly because he was diligently doing his job that he had to identify the causes of the threatening disaster at Eskom. He had to investigate and interrogate to diagnose the disease in order to find a cure. And what he found led him – where else – to politics and politicians.
Watching him in Ms Larsen’s interview, one had a sense of his lingering shock by what he had uncovered and the way his findings were received. How could he expect that at the root of the corruption, the theft, the fraud and the sabotage, the answer he was looking for could be identified in three letters: ANC.
Really André, you shouldn’t be so naïve. To achieve the greater good, people must be allowed to eat a little.
As for the ANC appointing a man of integrity and honesty to clean the banquet hall without disturbing them as they are eating, in what world are they living?
Meanwhile, the death threats continue.
