LETTER: Powerless ant fighting a rogue elephant

Truth is defined as “the property of being in accord with fact or reality”. Former Eskom CEO André de Ruyter’s book Truth to Power spells out calmly, without drama and only the occasional adjective, the appalling corruption in the murky world of Eskom, named the world’s best power utility by the Financial Times in 2001. It has taken “only” 21 years to cripple this magnificent machine, once the pride of SA.

A senior officer in the Hawks tasked with combating corruption at Eskom asked De Ruyter to meet him in August 2020 and told him how his superiors actively stymied his efforts. The investigation into the attempted murder of the CEO of a national power utility by cyanide had been left to two sergeants who repeatedly confused “cyanide” with “sinuses”.

De Ruyter was instructed to wear a bulletproof vest. His wife had to shop with an armed bodyguard. As his facts created dangerous flak, and nearly everyone he approached in government turned their backs on him, De Ruyter realised he was an ant fighting an elephant.

His patriotism was not worth dying for. He left SA. We are suffering in the dark created by his absence.

Sue Grant-Marshall
Parkmore

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