‘ No bulletproof for me, ’ says Tutuka GM
● He is Eskom’s turnaround king and, together with his “bomb squad”, Bruce Moyo is entrusted with bringing Tutuka, “South Africa ’ s worst-performing power station”, back to the grid.
Moyo is in the hot seat.
“This station is in a bad shape in the sense that the previous GM was hunted — he came to work wearing a bulletproof jacket,” he tells the Sunday Times.
He is hesitant to talk about his private life or where he grew up.
“I do not wear the bulletproof like my predecessor, but I believe it is better that these people do not know where my kids or my people are.”
Moyo has reason for concern. The station has a history of corruption.
“The previous power station manager’s wife travelled with bodyguards and his kids were taken to school by bodyguards. I don’t want that sort of life for my loved ones.”
Moyo was previously the cluster manager for five power stations — Camden, Majuba, Kriel, Duvha and Komati.
“Over time, Eskom started using me as a turnaround specialist and I put a team together to help me. We sorted Kendal and moved on to Duvha. I call my team the recovery team, but [electricity] minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa calls them the bomb squad, like the Boks. They are a dedicated and competent team who specialise in turning around problematic stations.”
Camden power station was not operational when Moyo and his team arrived.
“We fixed the issues with ash and, when it finally had all its units on load, that day was a day of celebration,” says Moyo.
He is proud of his work.
“You must understand what such a turnaround means to the surrounding community. In the case of Camden, you are talking about Ermelo. It is a small town with a lot of people working for, and on contract to, Eskom. If their jobs are in danger, it affects the entire community.”
Of all the stations Moyo has been tasked with turning around, Tutuka was a particular thorn in Eskom’s side.
“You might remember the rumours that Tutuka might be sold because of performance. At the beginning of this year, I was asked by Eskom to come to Tutuka to see what my team and I could do. We started here in May.
“At the moment we have two on load, but at one stage we had four running. The work is far from finished.”
The 38-year-old power station is in an advanced stage of decline.
“I always tell my team there are four stages of decline. Stage one starts when you are running at capacity, you are successful, and you become arrogant. Then you stop doing the things that made you successful in the first place.
“It escalates to stage two, when you are chasing your former success, but you start taking short cuts. We run these machines at very high loads, and in stage two you keep doing that without the necessary maintenance. In stage three the machines start telling you: ‘ You are abusing me. You ignored the threats and the peril.’
“Stage four is when you are grasping for salvation. A symptomof that grasping is putting in one GM after another. Tutuka was in that stage when I arrived.”
When he got there, the station’s energy availability factor (EAF) was 6%.
“The amount of neglect was staggering and the lead time on much-needed spares impossible. ”
Challenges are everywhere.
“One of the key things is that the performance of any station depends on its people. The motivation at Tutuka is at a very low level. Everywhere you read that Tutuka is the worst-performing power station and that it’s riddled with corruption. They write that the people of Tutuka are corrupt.”
He smiles sadly. “I arrived to find a broken plant and broken people. A broken plant leads to chaos and the more chaos you have, the more opportunities for crime are created.
This situation is not helped if your workforce has to work excessively.”
And in spite of their poor results, the workers of Tutuka do just that.
“The average worker at Tutuka works more hours than anyone else, but when it comes to performance they do not get out what they put in.
“I could not just walk in and kick doors down with a demotivated workforce. We had to start small and celebrate the little victories, ” Moyo says.
“When we put a unit on load and managed to keep it running, as management we went to the gates and waited for our people to come out.”
Moyo smiles at the memory of a “bitterly cold morning” in winter.
“Every person received a chocolate, a packet of chips and a cooldrink. A small token of our thanks, but it brought back a lot of smiles. These people were not used to being celebrated, even in such a small way.
“This journey to recapture the hearts and minds of our workforce is still ongoing and must be completed before the real work of the turnaround can start in all seriousness. Otherwise it will be a waste of time.”
Moyo ’ s drive for performance through a culture change must be working, because since his arrival in May Tutuka has had a dramatic change in its EAF.
“Our year to date is 35%. Our next target is to get a cooling tower back by the end of January. Once that is completed, our EAF will climb further.”