Page 24 - IFV Issue 6_ 2023

Book Reviews

Truth to Power: My Three Years Inside Eskom
By Andre De Ruyter
When André de Ruyter took over as Eskom deal with political interference, absurd
CEO in January 2020, he quickly realised why regulations, non-paying municipalities,
it was considered the toughest job in South unfounded accusations of racism, wildcat
Africa. Aside from neglected equipment, strikes, sabotage and a poisoning attempt.
ageing power stations and an eroded skills De Ruyter takes the reader inside the
base, he discovered that Eskom was crippled boardrooms and government meetings
by corruption on a staggering scale. where South Africa’s future is shaped,
Fake fuel oil deliveries at just one power with ministers often pulling in conflicting
station cost Eskom R100 million per month; directions. He explains how renewable
kneepads retailing for R150 a pair were energy is the cheapest and quickest
purchased for R80 000; Billions of rands’ solution to our power crisis, in spite of fierce
worth of equipment supposedly housed in opposition from vested coal interests.
the company’s storerooms were missing. De Ruyter candidly reflects on his three
Faced with police inaction, he was years at the power utility, his successes and
compelled to plunge into a world that was failures, his reasons for leaving and his hopes
foreign to him – a world of spies and safe for the future.
houses, of bulletproof vests and bodyguards. As someone who worked at the highest
In Truth to Power, De Ruyter tells the levels of the state but who is not beholden
behind-the-scenes story of how he launched to the ruling party, he is uniquely placed
a private investigation that exposed at least to speak truth to power.
four criminal cartels feeding off Eskom.
While fighting this scourge, he had to Price: R350.00

I Am Ella: A The Making of
remarkable story Another Major Motion
of survival, from Picture Masterpiece
Auschwitz to Africa From Academy Award-winning actor
By Joanne Jowell and bestselling author Tom Hanks

Ella Blumenthal’s story of A wildly ambitious story of
surviving the Holocaust and the making of a colossal, star-
building a new life in South studded, multimillion-dollar
Africa could easily be mistaken superhero action film, and
for fiction. From the ashes of the humble comic book that
the Warsaw Ghetto uprising to inspired it all.
the fires of Majdanek, Bergen- Spanning 80 years of
Belsen and Auschwitz; from the a changing America and
abandon of post-war Poland to the refuge of Paris, Palestine and culminating in the opening of the film, we meet a colourful cast
getting married and moving to Johannesburg and eventually of characters, including a troubled soldier returning from war, a
Cape Town; from stateless refugee to displaced immigrant, Ella’s young boy with an artistic gift, an inspired and eccentric director,
101 years of life have been nothing short of Herculean. a pompous film star on the rise, a tireless production assistant and
Together with her niece Roma Rothstein, five years her junior, countless film crew members that together create Hollywood
Ella survived three concentration camps before being liberated magic.
by the British Army in 1945. They made their way across Europe Funny, touching and wonderfully thought-provoking, The
to join their last surviving family member in Palestine, where Ella Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece offers an
met the South African man she would marry after just 13 days. insider’s take on the momentous efforts it takes to make a film.
She followed Isaac Blumenthal to the tip of Africa. They settled in The author reflects on America’s past and present, on the world
Brakpan, outside Johannesburg, where Ella and her husband built of show business and on the real world we all live in.
a business and raised their four children. Price: R390.00
Price: R330.00

22 • Issue 6 2023 • The Villager