10 SHOCKING ESKOM'S DEEP ROT REVELATIONS:

In his memoir, André de Ruyter gives more insight into alleged corruption at the struggling power utility

- JANE VORSTER, NASIFA SULAIMAN

WHEN he quit his job earlier this year he said he was looking forward to taking things easy. For the sake of his safety and his health, André de Ruyter said, he'd decided it was in his best interests to lie low, probably somewhere abroad.

Everyone thought this meant the former Eskom CEO was planning to drop off the radar. But it turns out he has no intention of keeping quiet. His bombshell memoir - Truth to Power: My Three Years Inside Eskom - recently hit the shelves and has tongues wagging far and wide.

South Africans stuck in yet another round of stage 6 loadshedding may require torches to read the book, but it's not the first time De Ruyter, reportedly now living in Germany, has made startling statements.

We take a look at 10 shocking revelations from him - and the response from the powers that be.

1 THE REVELATION: THE ROT GOES DEEP

Shortly after taking the job at Eskom, De Ruyter had a meeting with Ben Theron, a freelance forensic investigator who’d done work for Eskom. In his book, De Ruyter admits Ben’s opening remark stopped him in his tracks.

“Congratulations, you are now the head of the largest organised crime syndicate in South Africa,” Ben said.

“Feeling somewhat insulted, I maintained a straight face, but thought to myself, ‘Surely it can’t be that bad’.

“Ben unrolled a series of A3 printouts on my desk, detailing with spider graphs a web of connections that touched just about every part of Eskom. If this was to be believed, we had become the proverbial goose that laid the golden eggs for the corrupt and the crooked.”

As the months passed De Ruyter watched the parade of wealth at Eskom, with even fairly junior employees carrying Louis Vuitton bags.