Shivambu slams Eskom CEO De Ruyter for calling power utility a ‘dead horse’

EFF deputy leader Floyd Shivambu has taken aim at Eskom CEO André de Ruyter for calling the state-owned power utility a “dead horse”.

De Ruyter made the reference during a media briefing last week, saying forcing him to resign would not solve the entity’s problems.

“There’s this lovely saying that you can flog a dead horse, and you can go one step further and change the jockey, but that won’t solve the problem. It’s more important to have continuity in management rather than to fall back into the trap that Eskom has been in over the past 10 years when we had 11 CEOs. This contributed to the instability in the organisation,” he said.

On social media, Shivambu alleged De Ruyter did not make the comment by mistake and that he “killed Eskom”.

“How on earth does government keep in office a so-called CEO who refers to a company he’s leading as a ‘dead horse’?” asked Shivambu.

“It was not a mistake. He’s killed Eskom and they’re destroying it to pave way for rapacious independent power producers. We should save SA from this nonsense,” he said. 

According to SABC News, De Ruyter withdrew the comment and apologised in parliament after some members of the portfolio committee on public enterprises demanded answers.