What I can
say is that the book is intelligently written and presents a thorough picture
of one man’s struggle against what went down over the three years de Ruyter
tried to put Eskom and its 40,000 employees on the right path. (Review by Barry
Meehan)
Truth To Power: My Three Years Inside Eskom by Andre de Ruyter. So, this is the book that half of South Africa would appear to be talking about - the story of a White Afrikaner taking on the insurmountable challenge of doing something positive about the decades-long problems inherent at the State utility Electricity giant Eskom.
The first thing that comes through very strongly is that de Ruyter was on a hiding to nothing, and had absolutely nothing to gain by taking on the responsibility of turning around a State-owned enterprise that was being robbed blind by suppliers and staff alike, not to mention transport companies, tenderpreneurs etc, etc.
Vilified by many high-ups within the ruling party, and stymied at virtually every turn by a lack of funds, as well as a determination by those in power to protect the coal mines at all costs and not sourcing renewable power, made de Ruyter a whipping boy with little to no credibility among those who should have been supporting him in his quest to do the right thing for his country, if we are to accept his version of events.
Nefarious dealings abound, with corruption rife, more and more underhand dealings occurring by the day, if de Ruyter’s account of the cartels operating inside and outside Eskom is to be believed. There’s no reason to think it shouldn’t be believed, as he would have nothing to gain by making it all up, and would indeed have had to have an exceptionally fertile mind to fabricate the goings-on in such detail.
So - is de Ruyter’s book worth reading? I suppose that depends on what you want to get out of it - I can’t comment on the motives some of the high-ups might have had, or the political situation inherent at the time, or indeed whether everything in the book is one hundred per cent true and verifiable. If you want to know how power stations operate, there’s plenty of technical description that will give you a better insight than internet “experts” can. If you’re looking for a breakdown of “the man behind the man”, that’s all there, as he spends some time in the first few chapters on his childhood and formative years.
Truth be told, I was pretty squarely glued to the tale with all its intricacies and cons (not many pros) but that’s not really my job as a reviewer. What I can say is that the book is intelligently written and presents a thorough picture of one man’s struggle against what went down over the three years de Ruyter tried to put Eskom and its 40,000 employees on the right path.
Truth To Power: My Three Years Inside Eskom by Andre De Ruyter is published by Penguin Books, Penguin Random House South Africa - ISBN 978-1-77639-062-5 – Barry Meehan
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