'Tony Soprano of the power industry': Choice quotes from the De Ruyter memoir | Business

  • 📰 News24
  • ⏱ Reading Time:
  • 71 sec. here
  • 3 min. at publisher
  • 📊 Quality Score:
  • News: 32%
  • Publisher: 80%

Business News News

Business Business Latest News,Business Business Headlines

Some of the former Eskom CEO's most contentious, and sometimes amusing, observations can be found in his new autobiography. | News24_Business

, was released on Sunday.

In 2021, he first met President Cyril Ramaphosa at his private residence in Hyde Park, which he describes in the book: De Ruyter accuses Mineral Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe of being particularly antagonistic towards him, and obstructive in De Ruyter's attempts to increase power generation from renewable sources.

Mantashe remarked that the current cap was 100 MW, and that there wasn't even a sign of 1 MW on the grid. Somewhat petulantly, he added that we might as well scrap the cap completely because it wouldn't make a difference either way. Ramaphosa took the gap like a Springbok centre. 'Then we'll lift the cap entirely!' he proclaimed.

Meanwhile, Julius Malema impressed him during an encounter at the EFF's march to Eskom's office, in protest of De Ruyter's appointment and the power crisis. A series of intelligence reports were released that linked two top politicians - unnamed in the book, but reportedly Mantashe and former deputy president David Mabuza - to a web of underground coal cartels. has revealed that an apartheid intelligence operative was part of the investigation, which contained untested allegations.

In July 2022, De Ruyter decided to share the findings - including the allegations against the two politicians - with Gordhan and national security advisor Sydney Mufamadi. This is his account of the conversation:

 

Thank you for your comment. Your comment will be published after being reviewed.
Please try again later.
We have summarized this news so that you can read it quickly. If you are interested in the news, you can read the full text here. Read more:

 /  🏆 4. in BUSÄ°NESS

Business Business Latest News, Business Business Headlines