Insiders hope for overhaul of ‘stale’ Eskom executive
ESKOM insiders are praying that when Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown appoints a new board this month as promised‚ those who take over will have the business acumen to turn the embattled power utility around.
One of the first tasks the new board will have is to appoint a permanent chief executive.
Eskom has had only acting chief executives since June after the final axing of Brian Molefe.
His replacement‚ Johnny Dladla‚ acted for 107 days before being replaced by the parastatal’s chief information technology head Sean Maritz.
The Black Business Council expressed concern over the appointment, and at the time, chairman Sello Rasethaba said the council had met with Eskom’s top management early last month and emphasised that corruption and bad leadership would not be tolerated.
Allegations of inappropriate conduct relating to state capture have resulted in the suspension of people in critical posts at Eskom‚ particularly those involved in allegedly rubberstamping the McKinseyTrillian deal worth R1.6-billion.
They include chief financial officer Anoj Singh‚ generation group executive Matshela Koko, former procurement head Edwin Mabelane‚ group capital acting head Prish Govender and senior procurement manager Charles Kalima.
They face disciplinary action after evidence of possible crim- inal wrongdoing was brought to light by G9 Forensics.
More recently‚ legal head Suzanne Daniels was also suspended after she had sent a letter of demand to Gupta-linked Trillian and global consultancy McKinsey to pay Eskom back. She is challenging her suspension at the CCMA.
Essentially‚ some of the group’s most critical positions are in limbo.
Despite the events in the executive suites‚ Eskom workers have produced an excess electricity generation of 23%.
One senior staffer said the biggest frustration at Eskom was that the executive committee had been in place “forever”.
“It is very stale,” he said. “We need a fresh executive team with commercial experience if we are to be independent of government finance and sustainable.
“There has not been a proper board since 2011. We need a full complement of commercial strategists who can be a sounding board to the chief executive and chief financial officer.
“Because of extremely limited experience [on the board]‚ it tends to operate at operational level and with no clue what a board’s role is.”
Eskom for the most part ignored questions sent relating to the matters raised.
Eskom spokesman Khulu Phasiwe said: “Minister Brown has recently indicated that she would appoint a new board before the end of November.
“The group staff turnover was about 4% the past year.” – TimesLIVE