Truth to Power: My Three Years Inside Eskom

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If this was to be believed, we had become the proverbial goose that laid the golden eggs for the corrupt and the crooked. But at least this much was clear: while the Gupta family had been the shark swimming in the murky waters of state capture, the much smaller piranhas were feasting on Eskom’s flesh. If I had been trustworthy enough for three years to head up Eskom, what had suddenly changed that warranted this level of scrutiny? This would give time for South Africato embark on a ‘Just Transition’ towards green energy, financed by loans from the West. Whatever the criticisms of his management style and strategy, the man has to be given immense credit.

Truth to Power: My Three Years Inside Eskom by De Ruyter

For me to invest this much time and effort into every case of corruption was simply not sustainable or practical.When government and the ANC later tried to disavow all knowledge of how high the Eskom corruption stretched, I could only shake my head in amazement.

Truth to Power: My Three Years Inside Eskom eBook : Ruyter

I hope the media companies are building up a water tight case on what is happening behind the scenes at Eskom. I have been in RSA for the last 50 years and I have never heard of any other country that had a corrupt Government as bad as the ANC. The effective abandonment of all principles of good corporate governance made it possible for the Guptas to execute one of their most audacious schemes through the attempted capture of the Optimum colliery. General purpose platform session cookies that are used to maintain users' state across page requests.billion to Optimum, using the ruse that this was for the supply of coal to Eskom’s Hendrina power station.

Truth to Power: My Three Years Inside Eskom : Ruyter, Andre Truth to Power: My Three Years Inside Eskom : Ruyter, Andre

Similarly, it turned out that several senior Eskom managers were also gifted cattle farmers, registering farms in Limpopo in the names of cousins and other relatives. Pravin Gordhan, Minister of Public Enterprises, comes across in the book as understanding the issues, but reluctant to take action on a number of core matters, out of loyalty to the ANC. It was particularly galling for the management of Eskom to be exhorted by both President Ramaphosa and Minister Gordhan to display a greater sense of urgency when we were at the mercy of the ‘activist’ and ‘engaged’ board under a go-slow chairman. The only conclusion is that profit-sharing by criminal and corrupt elements has become so normalised that it is self-evident: it is no longer questioned, and it has to be incorporated in plans.It was therefore quite extraordinary that Mantashe accused me of behaving too much like a policeman who is focused on chasing criminals instead of fixing the power stations. If he had been minister of family planning, he could maybe have hidden behind ignorance of the energy portfolio.