André De Ruyter can easily say he did not have political support as Eskom’s CEO. Critics can turn around and say he never lacked in that regard. He leaves Eskom in more or less the same state he found it in, if not worse. In terms of some important indicators, Eskom is in free fall. It cannot produce enough of the one thing only it can sell as an entrenched monopoly. It wants to charge more, even for those who opt for alternative sources, like renewables.
His resignation reflects poorly on several people or clusters of people. Then there is the problem the MBA as a one-size-fits-all qualification. He was never ready for the job in South Africa’s leading engineering firm. Another problem was his own leadership style and capability. A white middle-aged man from a packaging company attacks his 45,000 workforce in the media as incompetent and wholesale corrupt. He then relies on the power of the politicians around him to give him cover. He hangs on their coattails during the honeymoon. They know what they are doing, as the situation gives them control of the executive layer of Eskom. Win-win, for now. A narrative about sabotage is created by politicians who come from the underground. That is the only thing they know; an engineering construct cannot fail without a third force in their experience.
In this symbiotic setup, renewables and the just transition are as ubiquitous as those solve-all-your-problems product adverts on TV. More focus should be placed on the core business: engineering. Naturally, De Ruyter could not coexist with the new board, chaired by Mpho Makwana, a former Eskom insider. Makwana’s first stint at Eskom will remind him about the engineering modelling that can be executed to create more space to fix the plant. He knows the difference between an MBA and an engineer.
His exit reflects the complete inability of the politicians to run a bath, let alone the biggest engineering business in South Africa
The political environment is complex. The ANC has a conference from December 16, and answers are required. Pushing De Ruyter out helps the politicians hugely. In terms of the political optics, President Cyril Ramaphosa would have had a rougher conference had he gone to Nasrec with De Ruyter in charge. That conference was always going to demand De Ruyter’s head. Ramaphosa dodges a bullet, thanks to De Ruyter submitting his resignation letter. It does not matter in political optics terms that the ANC still has no solution to the Eskom crisis. The conference still will not. The coal lobby will enjoy an easier time at the conference.
Let’s look at the other factors around De Ruyter’s failure. His exit reflects the complete inability of the politicians to run a bath, let alone the biggest engineering business in South Africa. My former employer, the department of public enterprises, has not had a permanent deputy director-general for energy for almost a decade. That is where the technocratic work starts and ends. It therefore cannot advise minister Pravin Gordhan. In other words, the shareholder does not have the capacity, or even interest, to manage the damn thing, the biggest impediment to the South African economy.
It does not matter that Gordhan and his counterpart at the energy portfolio, Gwede Mantashe, are tired politicians who have taken many blows in politics. They are both addicted to politics, and don not realise the need for a different arrangement. As for Ramaphosa, he saw nothing wrong with having Malekgapuru Makgoba as Eskom chair. No offence, but the lights went out on Makgoba ages ago.
It will take a year or longer for a credible replacement to be found. First, no sane person will want that job. De Ruyter will be happy to get his freedom back and eventually ditch the heavily armed bodyguards without whom he can’t even go to the bathroom. The politicians will not have learnt anything from this lesson. De Ruyter was taken through various layers of political checks — from the ANC’s deployment committee to ministers imposing themselves on the interview process. The same is likely to happen in the next round of CEO search.
And more severe load-shedding is guaranteed to be almost as ubiquitous as it is in Nigeria. Buy solar gifts this Christmas if you can.
* Mkokeli is the lead partner at Mkokeli Advisory. He is a former public enterprises spokesperson
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