Durban - Eskom CEO Andre De Ruyter has resigned.
Many South Africans will be heaving a sigh of relief as the country faces one of the worst energy crisis with 8 to 10-hour power cuts daily.
A black Christmas with cold food is what many families have prepared themselves for.
Earlier today it was former DA leader Mmusi Maimane who let the cat out of the bag when he took to social media:
“I’m told Eskom CEO Andre De Ruyter will be removed today as he failed to solve the energy crisis.”
Media reports now suggest De Ruyter informed the Eskom board of his decision to resign on Wednesday.
The country is currently experiencing Stage 5 load shedding, with some analysts expressing concern that the country could soon experience Stage 8 load shedding.
There have been ongoing calls for De Ruyter to be removed.
As the aftermath of Covid-19, South Africans were thrown into the load shedding crisis.
This year the country recorded almost 2000 hours of rolling blackouts. It’s the worst year for load shedding yet.
Among those who called for his removal was The Young Nurses Indaba Trade Union (YNITU) who earlier this week said De Ruyter should be fired.
“YNITU demands that Mr Andre de Ruyter must be fired because his gross incompetence is costing lives.“
According to The Star ventilators stop working during load shedding.
The former head of Statistics South Africa Dr Pali Lehohla said De Ruyter should have be replaced by an engineer.
“Eskom is an engineering-cum-economic behemoth. It is an engineering animal and an economic animal. At the moment, it is not led by engineers, nor by economists. So, you cannot expect it to perform. Instead, it is led by politicians and accountants and they are trying to understand the logic of Eskom.”
* This is a developing story.
IOL