SOUTH Africa revamped the board of state power utility Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd., including naming Mpho Makwana as its new chairman, as the government searches for solutions to end a worsening energy crisis that’s crippling the economy.
Eskom, which supplies more than 90% of the power used in Africa’s most-industrialized economy, has imposed record power cuts this year, despite a program to improve maintenance on its old and unreliable coal-fired plants. The addition of several board members with technical expertise is the latest move by President Cyril Ramaphosa’s administration to improve its performance.
Chief Executive Officer Andre de Ruyter and Chief Financial Officer Calib Cassim will retain their posts, as will Rod Crompton, who served on the previous board, Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan said in an online briefing on Friday.
“The new board brings broad experience, expertise and skills that will provide stability and strategic direction to the entity,” the Department of Public Enterprises said in a statement. “Their task will be to reposition Eskom to play a key role in the energy sector,” deal with the current outages, ensure there is a reliable energy supply in the medium to long term and address corruption and procurement issues, it said.
Makwana serves on a number of other boards, including as a non-executive chairman of steelmaker ArcelorMittal South Africa Ltd. Several of the new appointees have technical backgrounds, including Clive le Roux, Eskom’s chief nuclear officer, and Lwazi Goqwana, an engineer.
Gordhan said he expects outages to decline next week, though efforts to disrupt Eskom’s operations, including sabotage, continue.
Ramaphosa has called for the rapid procurement of more power from privately owned plants for the past two years, but that initiative has encountered procedural and legal delays and new plants will take months if not years to be brought online. De Ruyter has said that as much as 6,000 megawatts of capacity is needed to stabilize the system.
Most of Eskom’s previous board members were appointed in December 2017. They included its Chairman Malegapuru Makgoba, a molecular immunologist, Tshepo Mongalo, a law professor, and Banothile Makhubela, who has a doctorate in chemistry. Before Friday’s announcement, the number of board members was down to just five, after several resignations.
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