After years abroad, former Eskom CEO André de Ruyter has returned to South Africa – saying that despite its challenges, ‘this is our place’, reports Cape {town} Etc.
Speaking to Ontbytsake in an interview cited by Daily Investor, de Ruyter revealed that he and his family decided to come back after his contract with Yale University in the United States ended earlier this year. While he said he’d enjoyed the ‘anonymity’ of living abroad, particularly in America, South Africa remained the one place that truly felt like home.
‘This is our place, this is where we want to be. We are South Africans,’ said de Ruyter.
De Ruyter spent the past few years abroad following the explosive corruption allegations he made against ANC politicians and senior government officials during his time as Eskom’s CEO.
The claims, aired in a high-profile interview with Annika Larsen in early 2023, led to fears for his safety – and what he later described as an ‘assassination attempt‘ after cyanide was found in his system.
Following his abrupt departure from Eskom and the country, de Ruyter spent time in Europe before moving to the US, where he took up a post as a senior guest lecturer at Yale’s Jackson School of Global Affairs. His course focused on renewable energy and the green economy.
Reflecting on his time at Yale, de Ruyter said it was a ‘decompression period‘ after the turbulence of Eskom, describing the Ivy League campus as ‘highly stimulating’ and filled with some of the brightest minds in the world.
After the 2023-2024 academic year, the former CEO and his family travelled across the US, spending time in several states before returning to Europe, where he also taught briefly at Oxford University.
Now back on home soil, de Ruyter is consulting for renewable energy companies and serves as vice chair of the board for Verra, a global climate action company.
In earlier coverage by Cape {town} Etc, de Ruyter was described as one of South Africa’s most divisive public figures – lauded by some for his anti-corruption stance but criticised by others for Eskom’s deepening loadshedding crisis under his leadership.
During his tenure from 2019 to early 2023, the country endured record levels of blackouts, with many accusing him of focusing too heavily on green transition efforts while failing to stabilise operations at the embattled utility.
Still, de Ruyter remains firm in his view that South Africa, with all its imperfections, offers something special.
‘I’ve lived and worked in five countries,’ he said, ‘and South Africa remains the best place to live.’
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Picture: Brenton Geach / Gallo Images
