Former Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter has broken his silence on the claims he made about corruption at the power utility following his resignation last year December. De Ruyter appeared before parliament's standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) virtually on Wednesday afternoon.  

BOARD INTERFERENCE 

De Ruyter emphasised that his departure from the struggling power utility was also motivated by board members interfering with operational affairs. He exposed Public Enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan as one of the culprits who bypassed him and met with middle management on operational matters. "It has become a self-styled engaged board, or activist board, and has immersed itself in operational detail, which some would characterise as overreach for a non-executive board, but I am happy to leave that to my successor to manage to ensure there is adequate separation between non-executive board members and the executive and management so the lines are drawn in terms of co-operative governance," he said. De Ruyter added: "I don't know, but it made life as the responsible accounting officer quite difficult, different cooks in the kitchen don't always result in a good meal." he said. 

PUSHED OUT 

He said interference from the board, lead by chairperson Mpho Makwana, put unnecessary pressure on him and made it difficult for him to execute his tasks. " It certainly made my life quite challenging. Meetings were held with subordinates of subordinates of subordinates of mine without my knowledge, instructions were given, and this made my life difficult, and I experienced that as disempowering." The executives are the people who should run the company and should be held to account by the oversight of the board. The engaged board did play a role in my finding my position to be untenable." Scopa will call the minister and the board to answer the claims next week. 

CANDIDATES SHORTLISTED FOR CEO POSITION 

Eskom chairperson Makwana announced on Monday at the National Demand Side Management Indaba that the power utility had shortlisted five candidates for the CEO position. The successful candidate will take over from interim CEO Calib Cassim, who took over the reins when Du Ruyter was let go with immediate effect in February. "We've been quite advanced in the shortlisting process for the next CEO of Eskom such that we now have a small shortlist of five candidates," Makwana said. Makwana said the names of the shortlisted candidates remain confidential so that the process is "untainted by external influence"