Former Eskom chief executive André de Ruyter is leaving South Africa due to safety concerns.
This comes after De Ruyter made explosive allegations in an interview with e.tv journalist Annika Larsen, about crime and corruption at Eskom.
In the interview, he claimed unnamed senior ANC leaders were aware of the corruption and that the utility serves as the ANC’s “feeding trough”.
He also said a criminal syndicate in Mpumalanga was stealing over R1 billion per month from the swak power utility.
De Ruyter said people who attempted to act against these criminals were killed “pretty much every week”, according to Mybroadband.
ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula on Thursday confirmed that the party will take De Ruyter to court to prove his allegations.
He said De Ruyter could go to law enforcement agencies with the evidence, as the Hawks, Special Investigating Unit and the police have been probing corruption at Eskom and a number of mense have been arrested.
An announcement that De Ruyter would be leaving Eskom with immediate effect was made by the power utility following a special board meeting on Wednesday.
Eskom spokesperson Sikhonathi Matshantsha told Talk Radio 702 that the board demanded his immediate departure as they felt that De Ruyter had brought the organisation into disrepute in the interview with Larsen.
He had resigned in December and was due to leave Eskom at the end of March.
In an interview with MyBroadband, De Ruyter said that he would be spending time abroad after spatting from Eskom.
In his interview with e.tv, De Ruyter made shocking claims regarding ANC members, who he said had knowledge of and was involved in corruption at the power utility.
He alleged that there were criminal cartels in Mpumalanga, consisting of sophisticated, well-organised individuals, who adopted language associated with the Mafia, like captains and soldiers, and who steal around R1bn per month from Eskom.
De Ruyter said: “The criminal networks have extended their tentacles to many Eskom workers who sabotage and vandalise power stations on their behalf.”
He further pakked uit that he had made enemies in his attempts to intensify efforts to fight crime and corruption at Eskom as some progress was made in tackling these problems.
But he believes this has put a target on his back.
De Ruyter recently revealed that there had been an attempt on his life in December, where high levels of cyanide were found in his blood by doctors after he felt dizzy and disoriented at his office after drinking coffee.
“It is difficult to speculate who was behind the attempt on my life. There is a pretty long list of people with motive,” said De Ruyter.