The interview exposed De Ruyter as “the classical extreme right-wing anti-communist fanatic of the Apartheid years”, said Mbeki.
The former Eskom CEO was “driven by his ideological conviction to destroy the anti-Christ, the ANC!” in exposing the corruption at the utility.
According to Mbeki, De Ruyter knew that the criminality at Eskom would soon be exposed. And so, “informed by his ideological outlook, he did what he could to publicly lay the blame for those misdeeds on the ANC”.
The former Eskom CEO did this to “draw attention away from the counter-revolutionary forces responsible for the Eskom crisis”.
The former President concludes that it is “strange indeed that we could have counted on this sworn right-wing enemy of the ANC and the democratic revolution to rescue Eskom”.