De Ruyter will bring stability to Eskom — Cyril

Andre de Ruyter
Andre de Ruyter
Image: Geoff Brown

President Cyril Ramaphosa has hailed the appointment of outgoing Nampak CEO Andre de Ruyter as the new Eskom group CEO‚ saying it was a move to bring stability to the troubled power utility.

In his opening remarks at a meeting with the Black Business Council‚ Ramaphosa referenced the crises at Eskom‚ saying the board and government were working together on a turnaround.

“The appointment of a permanent group chief executive officer at Eskom is an important step to restoring stability and forging a sustainable path on this strategic entity‚” he said.

Public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan announced on Monday that De Ruyter would take over as Eskom CEO after Phakamani Hadebe resigned.

“The Eskom board‚ working together with the government‚ continues to pursue turnaround plans to address its huge debt‚ its liquidity problems and operations challenges‚” Ramaphosa said.

Ramaphosa said energy security was critical for SA industries and the economy to flourish.

He said work was being done to strengthen governance at state-owned enterprises.

Ramaphosa said the government had to restore the finances of state-owned enterprises to health “if we are going to rein in public debt”.

The  Black Business Council congratulated De Ruyter on his appointment but some trade unions dubbed it as anti-transformative.

Ramaphosa told the council on Thursday that its members should work with the government to fundamentally transform the economy.

“As representatives of black business‚ you have a central role to play in the national effort to change the structure of our economy to ensure that it is representative‚ inclusive and benefits all our people‚” he said.

Ramaphosa said it was essential that broad-based BEE contributed to inclusive economic growth and job creation.

“We should all be concerned about the slow pace of transformation in the workplace‚ particularly in the private sector.

“This necessitates some serious introspection by business and clear strategies to promote employment equity‚” he said. — TimesLIVE 

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