Ramaphosa more of a ‘country-club manager’ than a president, says De Ruyter

Former Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter criticises President Cyril Ramaphosa for his commitment to the ANC party line.

Writing in his newly released book, Truth to Power: My Three Years Inside Eskom, de Ruyter recalled his communications with Ramaphosa regarding the country’s transition to renewables.

In March 2020, the President told the then-CEO to make sure that Eskom was a major part of the transition to renewable energy, despite the ANC’s alleged support of coal.

Moreover, following a private meeting in July 2022, de Ruyter recalled being impressed by the President’s immediate understanding of the complex climate plan – believing that the President is shrewd and capable.

However, the former CEO questioned if the President has the leadership capacity to deal with the nation’s issues.

“But I could not escape the conclusion that in running the country, he was more of a genial country-club manager than a decisive leader,” de Ruyter said.

De Ruyter felt that the President was content in ensuring that everyone was happy as long as they were aligned with the ANC’s values.

“You can play darts, I can play golf, someone else can play tennis – and as long as everyone is happy and wearing the same green, black and yellow T-shirt, the president is happy.”

The former CEO believes that this approach is ‘a good way to manage a country club’ but ‘it does not work for the government’.

For example, de Ruyter recited an event where Ramaphosa backtracked after the 2021 State of the Nation Address (SONA) following input from the ANC.

During the address, Ramaphosa said that the country should create an environment where the private sector could create jobs.

However, following an outcry from the ANC over the role of the state, Ramaphosa went back on his comments, saying that he wanted a developmental condition where the government creates jobs.

“It’s nice when one can keep the peace between the bowls player and the darts players, but it cannot come at any cost.”

The former Eskom executive added that other world leaders are judged on how their country runs and not on how they deal with internal party problems, suggesting that South Africans should start judging Ramaphosa this way.

Critical of government 

De Ruyter has been engaging in public spats with the ANC for the last several months.

During an interview with eNCA, De Ruyter said that ANC officials were directly linked to corruption at Eskom.

De Ruyter said that a “high-ranking politician” was involved in corruption at the power utility and that he reported the activity to a “senior minister” who was already aware of this.

Following the interview, De Ruyter was relieved of his duties at Eskom despite having another month left and went into hiding.

The ANC denied his allegations and told him to retract his statements or face legal action.

Following this, as reported by News24, the Gauteng High Court has reportedly given the ANC the right to serve defamation papers to de Ruyter in Germany – where it is believed the former Eskom CEO is in hiding.

Despite the legal action, de Ruyter’s newly-released book is filled with criticisms regarding the government’s failures.

In the chapter We are F###ed Maybe, de Ruyter said that politicians only have short-term goals and fail to understand the long-term needs of a power station.

“Instead of allowing the technocrats to do their job, the politicians back then said: No we’re not going to build new power stations now. It’s unnecessary, the lights are on.”

Note: BusinessTech reached out to the presidency for a response however, by the time of publishing they had not responded.

Read: Eskom’s R30 billion plan to avoid stage 10 load shedding: report

Ramaphosa more of a ‘country-club manager’ than a president, says De Ruyter