New board should decide De Ruyter’s future at Eskom, says Mabuza

Deputy President David Mabuza on Thursday said the executive’s hands were tied when it came to firing Eskom boss André de Ruyter, whose performance has come under the spotlight amid the load-shedding gripping the country. 

Mabuza was answering questions before the National Council of Provinces from the EFF’s Mmabatho Mokause, who asked why De Ruyter had not yet been sacked. 

According to Mabuza, the newly appointed Eskom board is responsible for the performance reviews of De Ruyter and his executive team, and to show him the door if appropriate.

Mabuza said the government had done its bit to appoint a complete, new and capable board to conduct oversight over Eskom management’s performance amid the economically devastating load-shedding.

“It is up to the newly appointed board to re-evaluate the performance of the Eskom CEO and other members of the Eskom management, and if indeed they find that there is poor performance, I think it is up to the board to act,” said Mabuza.

“It is our expectation that the board will run the affairs of Eskom in a very diligent manner and adopt zero tolerance of poor performance, corruption, abuse of power, dishonesty and conflict of interest whenever it arises.”

Mokause followed up her question saying De Ruyter and his team “have consistently demonstrated incompetence and arrogance” in the manner in which they have managed the energy crisis.

For this reason and others, she pressed Mabuza on whether it was time for a new broom at the helm of Eskom. 

Mabuza was at pains to explain that the government could not get too involved in the running of Eskom for this may be interpreted as interfering unduly.

“We are a shareholder and as a shareholder we have appointed a board to administer and oversee the operations of the utility. We should refrain as a shareholder from interfering in the daily running of Eskom.

“Now that we have appointed a competent board, we have done a good job. The board will after evaluation be in a position [to see if] there is a gap in skills at Eskom. As much as we see the problems at Eskom, we should allow the board to run its affairs and not interfere,” he said. 

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