As that famous ad would say: “Give that man a Bells”. Though Andre de Ruyter didn’t — and couldn’t — succeed in the near-impossible task of saving the country from the darkness granted us by the ANC, he certainly set the cat among the pigeons with his parting shots about the machinations, the skulduggery, the deceit and deception, the looting and, yes, the rank hypocrisy he witnessed in the highest echelons of government.
For that we should be grateful. Pitted against those hurling abuse and insults at him, I can guess which side most people are likely to believe.
It certainly won’t be the small men trashing De Ruyter’s reputation to ingratiate themselves with their one-eyed supporters.
The Eskom board had no option but to fire him on the spot once Pravin Gordhan — probably to win over his critics in the party — had expressed his displeasure. Parastatal board members are not employed for their courage.
There was a time not so long ago when Gordhan could do no wrong. He burnished his reputation at Sars by performing a mini miracle, turning a tax collecting institution into the pride of the nation.
And when Jacob Zuma, desperate to repair his own tattered reputation, appointed Gordhan as his finance minister, the markets cheered. The nation was horrified when Zuma recalled him from an important international roadshow to fire him in the middle of the night.
Thousands came out onto the streets to protest in support of Gordhan. Zuma was later forced to reinstate our messiah after the brief and ruinous dalliance with a befuddled Des van Rooyen. But since taking over as public enterprises minister, Gordhan has surprisingly been less than impressive.
Maybe the EFF’s noxious hate campaign against him has had an effect, after all. SAA went belly-up despite him funnelling billions of taxpayers’ money into it. But it’s at Eskom where his performance, or lack thereof, has been positively pitiable.
Under his watch, the country has experienced substantially more load-shedding than at any time since this unfortunate spectacle began.
He’s become Erebus himself, the god of darkness. And he’s also gone missing as his comrades, led by Gwede Mantashe, his cabinet colleague, tear into Eskom management and try to make them the scapegoats for government’s abject failure.
Under Gordhan's watch, the country has experienced substantially more load-shedding than at any time since this unfortunate spectacle began
Gordhan has not been alone in this dereliction of his duty. His boss has also been suitably mute amid the chaos.
That the two ministers can engage in a public spat over an issue so critical to the country’s future not only attests to President Cyril Ramaphosa’s weakness as a leader, but the complete collapse of cabinet government.
De Ruyter’s appointment was a government decision, yet Mantashe was allowed to go rogue on the issue — to the extent of accusing de Ruyter of treason — with nary a murmur from either Ramaphosa or Gordhan.
But after de Ruyter’s explosive revelations this week, Gordhan is suddenly roused from his slumber, accusing him of meddling in politics, thus literally setting the dogs on him.
Within a day, the man is booted out by a board which, like its political masters, is evidently afraid of confronting the truth. We wouldn’t be facing this darkening future if the real problems had been attended to with such alacrity.
Interestingly, none of the smarty pants who’ve eagerly lined up to crucify De Ruyter, have taken him up on the issues he raised. They’re playing the man, not the ball. He’s right-wing (I guess that’s a new word for a racist), they say.
Fikile Mbalula, a proper windbag with feet firmly in both party and state, says De Ruyter was a failure — a bit rich coming from a man who laid waste to the country’s rail network.
But if De Ruyter is indeed a racist and incompetent, why did the cabinet appoint him? Shouldn’t they be taking the rap for making such an awful decision?
De Ruyter has made sensational allegations which somebody at some point will have to answer: that Eskom is losing a billion rand a month to looting; several known criminal syndicates are operating with impunity in Mpumalanga, maiming and killing anyone standing in their way; and senior politicians are not only condoning the looting but are involved in the plunder themselves.
One can wager one’s bottom dollar that the public is likely to believe him rather than the protestations of his agitated accusers. After all, he spent three years in the belly of the beast. In any other country, these sorts of allegations would be enough to bring down a government.
What sticks in the craw, though, is the hypocrisy and the lying. This problem is more than a decade in the making and we’re encouraged by its authors to blame it on a man who took over three years ago.
One gets hot under the collar not out of a need to defend De Ruyter — he’s capable of doing that for himself — but because his accusers think we’re stupid. We’re sitting in the dark, businesses are going under and people are losing their jobs because of their looting and incompetence.
They are the authors of our misery. And let us not forget that. And for the past five years they’ve been lying to us.
Contrary to what we’ve been told, state capture is still on steroids and the problems at Eskom have not been attended to, but have instead multiplied. Ramaphosa’s so-called new administration seems to have been abetting the malfeasance.
These acts are tantamount to high treason, and yet the police, NPA and government are asleep at the switch. And the president, I suppose, is still desperately casting about for our beloved minister of electricity who, on arrival will wave his magic wand and our problems will disappear.
These blackouts pose an existential threat to the country. It should be the government’s absolute priority to sort them out. Shouting at alleged culprits is not only a waste of precious time, but barking up the wrong tree. That won’t in any way cause the darkness to go away.
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