On the fourteenth day of Dezemba, De Ruyter gave to us…

…a resignation letter.

The embattled CEO volunteered to take a pay cut from his job at Nampak to guide SA out of the dark ages of the “nine wasted years” under State Capturer-in-Chief, Jacob Zuma. He received the backing of the similarly-minded Thuma Mina president Cyril Ramaphosa and Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan.

But with the country staring down another load shedding disrupted Christmas, the man with the magnificent mane chose his peace. 

At about three years, the would-be Eskom Righter outlasted 11 of his predecessors in a role that has become synonymous with “poisoned chalice”. 

His tenure was… intense. He tried to crack down on systemic corruption – down to the procurement of milk.  He rightly obsessed over overdue maintenance on stations that were neglected to breaking point to keep the lights on. 

At the same time, he faced several politically motivated attacks including charges of racism, (which he was cleared on) plus ongoing sabotage at power stations.

However, he hasn’t covered himself in glory as loadshedding deepened to the rarely seen Stage six schedule of eight hours of power cuts per day, with no end in sight. Various reports and sources are claiming the final straw was Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy Gwede Mantashe’s recent accusation that Eskom was “agitating for the overthrow of the state”. There was no defense from Ramaphosa or Gordhan. For a man who took the job out of a sense of national duty, that must have hurt. 
De Ruyter will stay on till March next year, well beyond his 30-day notice period, to assist newly named Board Chairman Mpho Makwana in his search for a new CEO – the same chairman who refused to sign the document to approve additional electricity from existing suppliers. The Eskom Board assured the country that “a comprehensive executive search will be conducted to find a suitably qualified candidate”. Good luck with that.

But Christmas may not be ruined yet. Mantashe could be shuffled out of the ANC power structures before the weekend is out to give Cyril a clear path to an accelerated Just Energy Transition.

We’ll be covering that JET plan closely in 2023, so be sure to look out for it.

This article appeared as part of the year-end issue of our award-winning newsletter /The Wrap/. Sign up to receive our weekly updates.