GOOD secretary-general and MP Brett Herron said on Thursday that while André de Ruyter might have failed to curtail loadshedding during his tenure as Eskom CEO, the intelligence he gained about ongoing criminal networks could be vital to Eskom successfully stabilising the energy grid.

State-owned power utility Eskom has announced that De Ruyter is leaving the utility with immediate effect.

De Ruyter resigned in December, after three years at the helm. His last day was set to be March 31.

In a television interview this week, De Ruyter raised serious allegations against an unnamed senior African National Congress (ANC) politician, the same week in which Eskom implemented Stage 6 loadshedding, which quietly went up to Stage 7 on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Herron noted that in his television interview De Ruyter effectively claimed to have personal knowledge of ongoing high-level corruption at Eskom, as well as knowledge on efforts to steal a portion of donor funds and loans raised by Eskom to fund the transition to renewable energy. 

Herron argued that De Ruyter should have approached law enforcement, instead of making the allegation on national television.  

“As a consequence of the interview, it was announced last night that De Ruyter would leave Eskom with immediate effect, despite initially committing to staying until the end of March to assist with a smooth handover,” he said.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) expressed its gratitude to De Ruyter for his term as Eskom CEO and said unless urgent action was taken to bring criminals at Eskom to justice and stabilise power generation, South Africa was headed for a "dark and cold winter".

DA Shadow Minister of Public Enterprises Ghaleb Cachalia described De Ruyter as a true patriot.

“We commend his bravery, especially in the television interview this week in which he lifted the veil on the large-scale corruption at Eskom,” Cachalia said.

Herron said De Ruyter’s departure leaves Eskom with a leadership void at the worst possible time, with the company burning unprecedented amounts of diesel in its desperation to stop the system failing altogether.

Meanwhile, AfriForum believes that De Ruyter’s notice period, which was shortened by more than a month, is proof that De Ruyter’s increased public transparency about corruption at Eskom, and who is involved, is the reason for his early departure.

AfriForum Local Government Affairs manager Morné Mostert said the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) must take De Ruyter’s allegations of corruption into account when handling tariff increases.

“The effect being this dire loadshedding that the country is now facing. Why are these corrupt operations not considered when Nersa grants tariff increases of almost 20%? A question that needs to be answered,” he said.

AfriForum strategic advisor for community affairs Dr Eugene Brink highlighted that De Ruyter had intimate knowledge of the national power supplier, therefore, his allegations about high-ranking ANC officials’ involvement in Eskom’s corruption must be taken seriously.

“These are not the first allegations he has made about endemic corruption, and it is not just a so-called State capture problem. These allegations, and those of other whistle-blowers, should have been investigated earlier, but instead, it seems easier to just silence them,” said Brink.

He said the Eskom board failed the country and the power utility by terminating De Ruyter’s employment prematurely when they could have simply taken his and other role players’ allegations seriously to try to save Eskom.