Numsa happy to see Eskom's De Ruyter go

“In the manufacturing sector, we noted that many companies are retrenching and cite persistent load-shedding as part of the reason for shutting down and retrenching workers. As of September this year, the economy has lost a minimum of R20bn, and it was only going to get worse if he continued in his role.

“His resignation is way overdue, and there has been catastrophic consequences for all of us because of his pathetic leadership,” Numsa general secretary Irvin Jim said.

Jim said whoever replaced De Ruyter must have an engineering background and also work for Eskom so that person can understand all the technical aspects of the business.

“Eskom is not like any other company. You need a technical expert who, at the very least, must understand the difference between good quality coal and bad quality coal. This was a concept which was way over De Ruyter’s head.”