De Ruyter re-introduced a maintenance schedule and sought to bring down the $30 billion in debt that Eskom owes. This entailed bringing generating units offline until they could be refurbished. He also curtailed the spending on diesel for opencycle turbines used to prop up the grid. These measures exacerbated power cuts, angering senior politicians within the ruling African National Congress, which faces a drubbing in next years’ national elections.

De Ruyter finally quit in December 2022 after mines and energy minister Gwede Mantashe accused him of “treason” in a press briefing. He was expected to leave office at the end of February, but was fired after an hour-long sit-down interview with the ENCA television channel. Among the revelations he made, were that at least four mafia-type crime syndicates operated on the South African coalfields. These gangs sabotaged machinery, then picked up lucrative repair contracts. Murder squads ensured plant managers were compliant and ignored the sabotage, and rival contractors were killed if they put in competing bids. “Pretty much every week there’s an assassination,” De Ruyter said.

Undercover investigations revealed gangsters who lived lives of “conspicuous consumption” that included luxury cars, houses and designer goods. There were even parties held where guests washed their hands in 15-year-old Scotch. “Why do they do this? Because they can. There’s no shame or attempt to hide it.” A senior manager was arrested at Tutuka power station in Mpumalanga province for the theft of $5 million per month in fuel oil. The man was perp-walked by the police out of the plant. The next day however he was released from jail.

One scam uncovered was the purchase of knee guards, typically used by employees who had to kneel - such as welders. Ordinarily, these were $20 items, but Eskom was paying more than $400 each, de Ruyter said. Again, a complaint was laid, but police failed to follow up despite Eskom officials meeting senior law and order officers. Perhaps his most damning revelation, was that he raised concerns over attempts by a senior government official to remove anti-graft checks on a $8.5 billion loan fronted to South Africa by the world’s leading economies, including the USA. The soft loan was made at the Cop26 summit in 2021, intended for renewable energy projects. De Ruyter said he grew concerned about a senior official who was trying to bypass anti-corruption rules attached to the loan.

De Ruyter said he approached a cabinet minister over the issue. The minister, who he did not name, but who is generally thought to be Mantashe, told him to be “Pragmatic. He told me that in order to secure the greater good, you have to allow some people to ‘eat’ a little bit,” de Ruyter said. Eat is a South African euphemism for graft.

De Ruyter concluded by recounting how he suffered suspected cyanide poisoning in December, a day after he had resigned. He recalled that he had drunk from his personalized mug in which his assistant had prepared the beverage. The mug had sat unattended at a coffee station in a nearby executive break room. Asked, as a final question what advice he would offer his successor, de Ruyter answered: “don’t have a personalized coffee mug.”