Corrupt, failing Eskom is a picture of South Africa in miniature

When André de Ruyter became chief executive of Eskom, South Africa’s state power monopoly, someone warned him he was now boss of the country’s biggest crime syndicate. De Ruyter, who quit the role in December after three bruising years, says: “Looking back, I think he might have had a point.”

Eskom is a study in miniature of what has gone wrong with South Africa. A power utility that cannot keep the lights on, it is gradually draining the country’s economy of its lifeblood. It is riddled with corruption, desperately inefficient and daily losing expertise.