Andre de Ruyter’s return to South Africa

Former Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter explained that he and his family returned to the country after spending a few years abroad because South Africa remains the best place to live.

While De Ruyter enjoyed the anonymity he experienced while living abroad, particularly in the United States, he said South Africa is the place where he feels most at home.

This comes after De Ruyter unexpectedly left the country following explosive allegations he made against ANC politicians and top government officials.

These revelations put his life in danger, and he was advised to leave South Africa, after which he spent a few months in Europe before finding a new job in the United States.

The former CEO landed a swanky new job at the private Ivy League research university Yale’s Jackson School of Global Affairs in New Haven, Connecticut.

There, he served as a senior guest lecturer, leading a course focused on renewable energy and the green economy market, a topic he had become interested in during his time at Eskom.

In an interview with Ontbytsake in October 2025, De Ruyter described his time in America as a “decompression period”, saying he particularly enjoyed his time at Yale.

He said the university’s campus was beautiful and filled with highly intelligent and well-read people, with some of the best students in the world in attendance. De Ruyter said it was a highly stimulating environment where he learned a lot.

When asked why he returned home, De Ruyter explained that, firstly, his contract with Yale had ended, with his tenure spanning the 2023 to 2024 academic year.

More importantly, he said South Africa was the place that felt most like home to him and his family. “This is our place, this is where we want to be. We are South Africans,” he said.

De Ruyter said he has worked and lived in five countries over the course of his life, which has given him a strong frame of reference for the most enjoyable places to live.

Despite all of the country’s challenges, the former CEO said South Africa remains the best place for him to live and where he feels the most at home.

From CEO to political target

During his time at Eskom, De Ruyter had become one of South Africa’s most controversial figures, mainly due to the utility’s performance under his leadership and the explosive corruption allegations he made against top government officials.

De Ruyter assumed the top job at Eskom in December 2019, where he was set to complete a three-year tenure.

Under De Ruyter’s leadership, South Africa experienced some of the worst load-shedding the country had ever seen.

Eskom implemented 205 days of load-shedding in 2022, with many blaming De Ruyter for the utility’s weak performance.

Much of the criticism levelled against De Ruyter pointed to his fixation on green energy efforts and exposing corruption at the utility, rather than focusing on improving Eskom’s operations.

De Ruyter would often point to the rampant corruption and sabotage at Eskom as reasons for the utility’s declining performance.

However, his critics pointed to De Ruyter’s poor leadership and low staff morale as reasons for Eskom’s underperformance.

His attempts to root out criminality at a utility that became synonymous with corruption during former President Jacob Zuma’s presidency were viewed as positive. Yet, he struggled to turn its finances and performance around.

De Ruyter also sought to have the utility produce more green energy as its old coal-burning plants were taken offline, and challenged tariff decisions made by the energy regulator.

This made De Ruyter a highly controversial figure, with significant political opposition, especially from then Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe.

Mantashe told De Ruyter to stop being a policeman and focus on his job. He also said De Ruyter was not suited for the job.

These tensions came to a head in December 2022, when De Ruyter unexpectedly announced his plans to resign from the utility, saying he would only stay in the role until 31 March 2024.

However, this timeline would never materialise, as De Ruyter ended up abruptly leaving Eskom in February 2023 after an explosive interview on eNCA with Annika Larsen.

Explosive allegations

In this interview, De Ruyter claimed that there is knowledge and support of corruption at the highest levels of the ANC and the government.

He estimated that R1 billion gets stolen from Eskom every month and that his report of high-level corruption was dismissed.

While not naming names, De Ruyter claimed that some high-ranking ministers and government officials were not only aware of but involved in corruption at the utility.

He also alleged that there were at least four Mpumalanga-based organised crime cartels that operate in Eskom.

De Ruyter said he placed a target on his back by intensifying Eskom’s efforts to fight crime and corruption. He allegedly survived an assassination attempt in December 2022 after high levels of cyanide were found in his blood.

Many of the allegations De Ruyter made in this interview were later included in his book, Truth to Power, which recounted his time at Eskom and the many struggles he faced as the utility’s CEO.

Following this interview, De Ruyter left not only Eskom but also South Africa, fleeing to Europe, where he stayed for a few months before going to the United States.

Following his stint at Yale, De Ruyter took his family on a road trip around the United States, spending time in the ‘flyover’ states before journeying through California and back to the East Coast.

After leaving the United States, De Ruyter spent some time at Oxford in the United Kingdom, where he also taught and engaged with the university’s faculty.

Now, back in South Africa, De Ruyter is doing some consulting for renewable energy companies, also describing himself as an “itinerant scholar”.

In January 2025, De Ruyter was also appointed as a board member of climate action company Verra, where he serves as its vice chair.