Page 7 - AfrElec Week 09 2023

AfrElec POLICY AfrElec

Eskom Interim CEO
Calib Cassim

Eskom names interim CEO amid

departing head’s allegations of

rampant corruption

SOUTH AFRICA SOUTH Africa’s struggling state power utility he described as rampant corruption at Eskom.
has appointed an interim chief executive follow- In the interview, he gave detailed accounts
ing the early departure of André de Ruyter, who of alleged widespread corruption at Eskom that
left on February 22 after accusing state officials of he said he had conveyed to ministers as well as
theft and corruption costing the entity ZAR1bn advisers to President Cyril Ramaphosa.
($55mn) a month. “I shared the information [about corruption]
Eskom has tapped current chief financial with a minister, I shouldn’t mention names, and
officer Calib Cassim to lead the company with senior advisers to the president … I cer-
as interim CEO until further notice, it said. tainly gave the message through, which by the
The shake-up comes as the utility continues way I’m obliged by law to do,” de Ruyter said in
to impose daily power cuts, known locally as the interview.
load shedding, which can last as long as 12 He also alleged that there were attempts to
hours. “water down” provisions to safeguard against
Cassim, who was made interim CFO in 2017 corruption during the negotiations to secure
and permanently appointed to the role the fol- $8.5bn in support for South Africa at COP26 for
lowing year, has been at Eskom for more than transitioning to clean energy.
20 years and has a deep understanding of “chal- ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula has
lenges facing the financing of operations and threatened to take de Ruyter to court if he does
future expansion of the industry,” Eskom said in not substantiate corruption claims against the
a statement. party. “We will write to him and give 7 to 10 days
According to data compiled by Bloomberg, to prove the allegations,” he said, as quoted by
the utility has implemented power cuts for 117 SABC News, alleging that de Ruyter made the
consecutive days because of plant outages, and claims in order to mask his own inefficiencies
cut an unprecedented 7,000 megawatts from the and failures as Eskom chief executive.
grid on February 21 due to breakdowns at its De Ruyter was appointed at the end of 2019,
ageing and poorly maintained coal-fired power and soon began warning the government
plants. that there was an acute shortage of between
De Ruyter was initially set to leave Eskom at 4,000MW and 6,000MW, and of an urgent need
the end of March but was pushed out following to boost capacity, according to local outlet News
an explosive interview with e.tv in which he said 24, which writes that his warning “fell on deaf
a “senior politician” at the African National Con- ears and no capacity has been added to the grid
gress (ANC) was among those involved in what in more than three years”.™

Week 09 01•March•2023 www. NEWSBASE .com P7