THE National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) is overjoyed at the news that André De Ruyter has resigned as the CEO of Eskom.
Although the news came as a shock to South Africans, Numsa announced that they are overjoyed about his resignation.
According to Numsa’s general-secretary Irvin Jim, De Ruyter’s resignation is way overdue and there has been catastrophic consequences for everyone because of his pathetic leadership.
“We are overjoyed at the news that the worst CEO in the history of Eskom’s existence has finally decided to do the right thing and resign. When De Ruyter started at Eskom, he claimed he could end loadshedding in 18 months,” said Jim.
He added that the country has unfortunately experienced the worst loadshedding in the history of Eskom under his leadership.
According to Numsa’s national spokesperson Phakamile Hlubi-Majola, the energy availability is at its lowest.
“Patients are dying in hospitals and clinics all over the country because of his failure to keep the lights on, and the economy is going down the drain,” said Hlubi-Majola.
She added that they have noted many concerns in the manufacturing sector.
“We noted that many companies are retrenching and they cite persistent loadshedding as part of the reason for shutting down and retrenching workers. As of September this year, the economy has lost a minimum of R20 billion and it was only going to get worse if he continued in his role,” she said.
Meanwhile, the Democratic Alliance (DA) said that De Ruyter’s apparent sudden resignation as the CEO of Eskom is a reflection on Gwede Mantashe’s relentless campaign against a man who despite having one hand tied behind his back as he battled to get the utility on track – fighting corruption, debilitating policies and political interference – conducted a dutiful and responsible effort at the discharging of his duties.
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DA’s Shadow Minister of Public Enterprises, Ghaleb Cachalia, said the DA condemns this “resignation” and repeats its call for bold emergency action to be taken to fix the ever-increasing problem of loadshedding.
“It’s time for a ring-fenced state of disaster to be declared around Eskom, governed independently by a panel of experts that ideally should include the former CEO,” said Cachalia.
