Andre de Ruyter’s Eskom salary package revealed

Eskom published its consolidated annual financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2023, which revealed that former CEO Andre de Ruyter received a pay package of R6.9 million.

De Ruyter surprised South Africans on 14 December 2022 when he announced his resignation after three years at the helm.

Former Eskom Chairman Mpho Makwana announced that De Ruyter would remain in his role until 31 March 2023.

However, he abruptly left the power utility in February 2023 without serving out his full notice period following an explosive ENCA interview about corruption at Eskom.

During the interview, he lifted the lid on organised criminal cartels linked to politicians stealing around R1 billion per month from the power utility.

De Ruyter added that the power utility is a feeding trough for the ANC, and the party is stuck in outdated communist ideologies.

This did not sit well with the ruling ANC or the Eskom board, and the power utility announced shortly afterwards that De Ruyter left with immediate effect.

In May, De Ruyter published a book titled Truth to Power: My Three Years Inside Eskom, exposing further corruption and incompetence at the power utility.

In his book, De Ruyter tells the behind-the-scenes story of launching a private investigation that exposed at least four criminal cartels feeding off Eskom.

De Ruyter joined Yale’s Jackson School of Global Affairs in August as a senior fellow for the 2023 to 2024 academic year.

In February, Eskom appointed Calib Cassim as acting group chief executive and is still waiting to appoint a new chief executive.

Eskom chairman Mteto Nyati said they had forwarded three Eskom CEO candidates to public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan.

They are now waiting for Gordhan and the government to complete the necessary process to appoint a new Eskom chief executive.

Andre de Ruyter’s salary package at Eskom

Eskom announced that it paid De Ruyter 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.

The table below shows how much Eskom paid its executive directors and group executives over the last financial year.