City Press reports that Eskom’s new CEO, Andre de Ruyter, has extended lifestyle audits to lower level staff, in a renewed push to clean up graft and wastage.
He spoke about lifestyle audits in a speech delivered to staff on Thursday, calling for a range of measures to curb reckless spending, end corruption, and stabilise operations. This follows the same audits of Eskom’s senior managers and their families, starting two years ago, which resulted in a number of disciplinary actions and the referral of staff files to the Special Investigating Unit. Eskom spokesperson Sikonathi Mantshantsha said the audits that De Ruyter spoke about were a continuation of the clean-up process at Eskom that started two years ago, that had now "cascaded" down to the rest of the staff. De Ruyter told staff that Eskom’s leadership had become scared to take decisions, after 10 years of state capture, and that accountable leadership had to return to the organisation. He emphasised that the number one priority for Eskom was "preventative, reliable and scheduled" maintenance on its fleet. Deon Reynecke of Solidarity confirmed that De Ruyter had said this during a meeting with the trade union this week. De Ruyter also said that Eskom had to cut back on staff costs, but that this would be done through voluntary separation and early retirement packages, and that there would be no forced retrenchments. He stated that this had to be done while retaining skills at Eskom.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Sarah Evans and Londiwe Buthelezi at News24
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page