By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Eskom published its consolidated annual financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2023, revealed former CEO Andre De Ruyter received R6.9 million in the 2023 financial year – slightly less than the R7.1 million he received the year before.
De Ruyter’s total remuneration included a basic salary of R6.453 million and other payments of R456,000 – working out to around R20,000 per day.
In contrast, former Eskom CFO – and now interim CEO – Calib Cassim earned R5.5 million in 2023 – which was a 9% increase from the R5.05 million he earned in 2022.
De Ruyter announced his resignation on the 14 of December 2022 after three years at the helm.
He left the power utility abruptly without serving out his full notice period following an explosive ENCA interview about corruption at Eskom.
De Ruyter lifted the lid on organised criminal cartels linked to politicians stealing around R1 billion per month from the power utility, adding that the government was more interested in short-term political gains than long-term sustainability for the country.
He added that the power utility is a feeding trough for the ANC, and the party is stuck in outdated communist ideologies.
The African National Congress (ANC) denied allegations of political meddling and corruption at Eskom and said de Ruyter needed to face consequences for his false allegations.
De Ruyter also admitted to failing to prevent load shedding and touched on what he sees as entrenched corruption within government and governance around Eskom.
Scroll back a few years before De Ruyter joined Nampak and he was a Sasol group executive championing the ambitious Lake Charles project in Louisiana to investors on April 9 2013 in New York.
De Ruyter put the total capital cost of the project between $5-billion and $7-billion.
De Ruyter moved to Nampak the following year and so cannot be held responsible for the delays and huge cost overruns, which have plagued what is now a $13-billion project, the Sasol board at the end of October this year firing its joint chief executives Bongani Nqwababa and Stephen Cornell, and acknowledging that Lake Charles had tarnished the whole company.
Nampak’s disappearing share value suggests that De Ruyter had, at best, a limited horizon at the packaging company.