Andre De Ruyter not the right person to fix Eskom says Gwede Mantashe

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Gwede Mantashe is apparently not a fan of Eskom’s CEO Andre de Ruyter and reckons the embattled power utility could do with someone who skills will match its operational needs.

Andre De Ruyter and the rest of Eskom’s leadership have been on the receiving end of criticism in recent days, particularly as the state-owned entity struggles to keep the lights on, due to a number of challenges, including a wage strike. There have been growing calls for the entire leadership, including Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan, to be shown the door, due to the load shedding crisis. The situation at the parastatal even led to stage 6 load shedding being re-introduced, prompting much concern from energy analysts and other stakeholders.

 

In an interview with Mail Guardian, Gwede Mantashe said Eskom is in need of a “fixer” and compares Andre De Ruyter to the parastatal’s chief operating officer, Jan Oberholzer, who is an engineer. Mantashe has told the publication that while De Ruyter theoretically understands Eskom’s troubles, compared to Oberholzer, there is a noticeable difference. “… If you go to Eskom [and] you talk to the chief executive, at a theoretical level it’s good. But when you talk to the chief operating officer [Oberholzer], who is an engineer, you feel the difference, because that engineer understands issues, he understands that to deal with load shedding you needs to maintain and service units that are not decommissioned, but not giving us megawatts,” he said.

 

Andre De Ruyter was appointed in January 2020, following the resignation of Phakamani Hadebe. Mantashe reckons De Ruyter is more of an “alpha” who only joins the utility once the fixer has done their work. “Eskom needs a fixer, a person who focuses on what is broken, and [who will] try to fix what is broken, and once he or she fixes it, moves on. Then you can have an alpha,” he said.

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