Can De Ruyter rescue Eskom? Alec Hogg, Erik Smuts probe his Nampak performance

After a long search, André de Ruyter, former CEO of Nampak, was appointed as CEO of troubled power utility Eskom. His appointment came as a bit of a surprise. His name was whittled down from a list of more than 140 and he scored the top job at Eskom following an interview. But there are questions about whether he is the right person to save Eskom – which ultimately means improving business conditions in South Africa, as Eskom's drag on the economy is widely regarded as one of the country's biggest challenges. BizNews founder and editor-in-chief Alec Hogg spoke to Erik Smuts, De Ruyter's Nampak successor – and long-time Nampak colleague – for insights on whether De Ruyter really has the business acumen needed to successfully pull off a major restructuring. Hogg also asks the uncomfortable questions about unusual accounting items in Nampak's financial reports that have raised eyebrows among the investment community. – Jackie Cameron

It's a warm welcome to Erik Smuts, the new CEO of Nampak. Erik, you've been… I don't know if you can call it thrown a hospital pass but there's lots of focus on you because of your predecessor, Andre de Ruyter who has now gone to Eskom and everybody's looking into what he was doing before. They've looked at Nampak and said but Nampak is a negative 10-bagger. It's a company in a lot of trouble etc. and you're the guy who's now stepped up to the plate. You've been with Nampak a long time. 

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