South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said he will “applaud” the person who agrees to take over as the chief executive officer of the beleaguered state power utility Eskom.
Eskom’s current CEO Andre de Ruyter last month said he will step down end of March. The utility has been criticised for subjecting the nation to the worst rolling blackouts — locally known as load shedding — since 2008. De Ruyter, who took over the role in early 2020, said he survived an attempt on his life in December.
“It’s a difficult job,” Ramaphosa said during a media briefing. “I applaud anyone who takes that job.”
Africa’s most-industrialised nation saw 205 days of load shedding last year, which discouraged companies from expanding and adding jobs. The company’s coal-fired plants regularly breakdown and it doesn’t have money to buy diesel that’s needed to supplement its generation capacity.
“We are dealing with it as urgently as
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