Following Andre de Ruyter’s damning television interview this week, in which he made allegations that senior politicians are involved in corruption at Eskom, the Defend our Democracy campaign has hit back against the African National Congress (ANC) for attacking the former Eskom CEO and said party leaders should have taken the opportunity to address the allegations instead of attempting to free themselves of their responsibility to put an end to corruption. 

The Eskom board resolved to remove De Ruyter from his position with immediate effect following the interview.

Defend our Democracy said ANC leaders had, instead, elected to protect the image of the party.

“Through the Zondo Commission of inquiry, the South African public has come to understand how a toxic politics enables and entrenches corruption and capture. Therefore, hinting that De Ruyter should not have spoken out because his views waded into the political arena, ignores that the pervading political culture in South Africa cannot be separated from the crisis the country faces,” it said.

The organisation also stressed that De Ruyter’s personal political views should not be used to shift focus from his allegations of corruption, criminal syndicates and mafias reaching into high levels of government and which he said were responsible for the energy crisis and extreme levels of loadshedding in the country.

Despite President Cyril Ramaphosa’s assurances that whistleblowers would be better protected, Defend our Democracy said the negative response to De Ruyter’s serious allegations sends the opposite message to whistleblowers and public officials who call out corruption and State capture entrenched in parastatals.

The campaign group has called on De Ruyter to take his allegations to the Hawks, publicise any further information and reveal the identities of the high-level Ministers allegedly involved in corruption at the parastatal. 

The organisation also urged Ramaphosa to detail how the next CEO of Eskom would be protected from political attacks, assure that De Ruyter’s allegations would be investigated, and set out whether action would be taken against Ministers who were privy to corruption within the public utility.

Defend our Democracy believes that leaders of the governing party should use this opportunity to demonstrate their efforts to root out corruption within the parastatal given that this crisis is “of their own making”.