Beleaguered Eskom CEO Andre De Ruyter resigns from his position – REPORTS
Eskom CEO Andre De Ruyter has reportedly resigned from his hot seat and BusinessTech Africa has gathered this developing story. De Ruyter leaves the embattled power generator, Eskom, and media reports suggest that the Group CEO notified the board about his decision. News24 has it that De Ruyter told the Eskom board chairperson Mpho Makwana
Beleaguered Eskom CEO Andre De Ruyter resigns from his position – REPORTS
Eskom CEO Andre De Ruyter has reportedly resigned from his hot seat and BusinessTech Africa has gathered this developing story.
De Ruyter leaves the embattled power generator, Eskom, and media reports suggest that the Group CEO notified the board about his decision.
News24 has it that De Ruyter told the Eskom board chairperson Mpho Makwana of his decision early this week.
It is also mentioned in the report that Makwana has also informed Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan.
“This follows a barrage of public attacks on him led by Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe, and Gordhan’s and President Cyril Ramaphosa’s subsequent failure to publicly support him and his management,” reports the news portal.
“Last week, Mantashe said that Eskom was actively agitating for the overthrow of the state. Neither Ramaphosa nor Gordhan responded to Mantashe’s allegation. They also did not offer support to De Ruyter and his management – this seemingly made De Ruyter’s position untenable.”
The Cape Town-based publication also reports that the outgoing CEO’s resignation could lead to the departure from Eskom of a number of other senior executives and engineers.
“Jan Oberholzer, De Ruyter’s number two and the chief operating officer, will also retire in April 2023,” the website said.
De Ruyter’s departure comes as the country is facing a devastating load shedding with Stage 7 reportedly now within reach.
Additionally, the beleaguered power utility repeatedly said that the dire state of its aging coal fleet means that breakdowns will increase and that maintenance cannot be postponed.
Meanwhile, the government has, however, taken longer to install additional generation capacity to end the load shedding.
De Ruyter assumed his position on December 25 2019 and came under heavy criticism for Eskom’s performance, despite the company providing regular briefings and detailed information about the decrepit state of the country’s electricity infrastructure.
