Andre de Ruyter showed us what not to do

Andre de Ruyter’s appointment as Eskom CEO showed the government what not to do when appointing individuals without the right set of skills to positions of high importance. 

While De Ruyter had substantial business experience, this was not suited to what Eskom required at the time he was CEO, when it was in the midst of a crisis. 

Instead of thinking about how to rebuild the organisational culture and shift Eskom’s focus to new technologies, it needed intense attention on its coal-fired power plants to turn around its operational performance. 

Only once it had exited the crisis could Eskom’s management team and board look at other issues within the utility and begin to think about an Eskom of the future. 

This is feedback from Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, who outlined some of the key guiding principles behind Eskom’s operational and financial turnaround. 

Ramokgopa told Newzroom Afrika that the utility has set a template for the successful turnaround of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in South Africa. 

One of the key elements of this template is the employment of competent leadership that is highly skilled in the SOE’s area of operation. 

This is something that Eskom lacked under De Ruyter, Ramokgopa said, as he lacked an understanding of how the utility’s plants operated. 

“You need someone steeped in the electricity sector and who understands the technical requirements of Eskom’s plants,” Ramokgopa said. 

“When you are faced with a crisis, you must make sure that you get people with the right skills in the right positions.”

This does not mean that a single person can make all the difference at a company the size of Eskom, but it needs a leader who has enough knowledge to hold the bureaucrats running the power stations accountable. 

“Of course, I am not about to suggest that an organisation of that size can be dragged down or pulled out of a difficult situation by one individual. But the leader sets the tone,” Ramokgopa said.

“The leader is the one who provides guidance and is the head of the group that must direct the organisation. But, ultimately, at a technical level, the buck stops with one person, and that is the CEO.” 

“So those are the lessons we learnt there. We know what not to do going forward. You need the right skills to resolve these problems.” 

“Really, it is not to cast aspersion, I am just saying there are lessons to be learned and unlearned from that experience.” 

“It goes without saying that the immediate predecessor to Mr Marokane was Mr De Ruyter,” Ramokgopa said, when asked who he was referring to.

Wrong skills, wrong time

Ramogkopa admitted that De Ruyter’s skills may have been the right set if Eskom had to solve a different problem rather than the load-shedding crisis. 

“If you are in the midst of a crisis, you don’t have the luxury of learning how a rotating machine works and how Eskom operates. That is the point I am trying to make,” Ramokgopa said. 

“I can’t go tomorrow and perform heart surgery. If I do, I will just facilitate your meeting with the maker. I am just a civil engineer.” 

“That is the point I am making. Unless you are resolving a different problem, then maybe his set of skills could be suited for that.” 

De Ruyter has faced intense scrutiny since leaving Eskom in February 2023, with the utility’s performance improving significantly since then. 

The former CEO has been slammed for focusing intensely on increasing private-sector participation in the electricity sector at the expense of improving Eskom’s operational performance. 

Simultaneously, De Ruyter focused on adding new generation capacity to the grid in the form of renewable energy, rather than steadying the ship at Eskom. 

Ramokgopa explained this thinking further, saying that De Ruyter was not the right man for the job at the time, with Eskom needing to be steered out of turbulent waters. 

“I think there was a misalignment of skills. When you have someone who has not been exposed to an organisation of this magnitude in this area of work, you will have problems,” Ramokgopa said. 

“Without experience in the electricity sector, the learning curve is prolonged, and Eskom was in a crisis, with no time available for a new CEO to learn the ropes.”

“I think we misdirected ourselves previously when we got someone at the helm who does not have an appreciation of how to run a utility of this nature.”

Eskom’s chairman, Mteto Nyati, previously said De Ruyter could have spent more time on the ground at Eskom, spending time with staff to understand what was needed to turn the utility around technically.

“He could have tried to understand and listen to the Eskom employees who understand that environment,” Nyati said.

He said that before developing a strategy, it is valuable to spend a lot of time on the ground to understand the challenges.

“The people who are the closest to the problems are the ones who have insights that you may want to integrate as part of your strategy,” he said.

He added that as a chief executive, you need the support of the people in your organisation. De Ruyter fell short in this department.

“He had a lot of support externally. What surprised me was that there was no support for De Ruyter in Eskom,” Nyati said.

“That is dangerous. Who are you leading when you see nobody is following you? That is the problem.”