The Congress of South African Trade Union has noted the resignation of Andre de Ruyter as the CEO of Eskom. This is not surprising considering that Eskom, under the leadership of Mr de Ruyter has performed at its worst, with the record load shedding taking place under his watch. Loadshedding has had a crippling impact on the livelihoods of businesses and communities across South Africa. The challenges at the utility proved to be too challenging for him to handle.
The resignation of Andre de Ruyter is not good enough, though, we need answers from the relevant political principals. If this problem is not handled diligently; it has the potential to mutate from an energy crisis into a political crisis. Minister Pravin Gordan and Gwede Mantashe need to provide a solid and coherent political intervention. They have so far offered nothing but generic platitudes and this is unsustainable.
We hope that the new board and government will act swiftly to appoint a new and appropriately qualified CEO because Eskom cannot be allowed to be rudderless for too long. The power utility’s development agenda makes it too big to fail.
The new CEO will need the support of both the board and government if they are to succeed in ensuring that the power utility can provide the country with a reliable and affordable electricity supply.
It’s not just the unavailability of electricity that is a problem; its affordability has also become a crisis. Electricity tariffs are a burden on households and consumers in general.
The Federation expects the new CEO to push for a forensic audit that will unravel the shenanigans that have been allowed to hobble and cripple the power utility, this work is important and must be done in a speedy manner. We demand to know more about the corruption at Kusile and Medupi. It is alarming that companies that messed up the designs at both Kusile and Medupi Power Stations are still cashing in millions at Eskom.
Issued by COSATU
Sizwe Pamla (Cosatu National Spokesperson)
Tel: 011 339 4911
Fax: 011 339 5080
Cell: 060 975 6794