Eskom removes acting CEO Dladla

Power utility appoints Sean Maritz in move to create more stability

ACTING Eskom CEO Johnny Dladla has been removed from his position by the board of the state-owned power utility.

Dladla was appointed in June this year following the suspension of then acting CEO Mathsela Koko.

An internal Eskom staff memo signed by Eskom chairman Zethembe Khoza, states that “in an effort to embed organisational stability‚ it is imperative that the role of Eskom group chief executive be permanently filled.”

“The Eskom board has decided to rotate current executives in this role to ensure exposure.

“This note serves to inform you that the Eskom board has appointed Mr Sean Maritz as the interim group CEO‚ effective immediately‚” the memo reads.

Maritz is the current Eskom group executive for information technology and chief information officer.

Dladla‚ the memo states‚ will resume his former role as CEO of Eskom Rotek Industries.

The surprise move comes just a day after the board held a meeting with Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown.

Eskom’s board chairman Zethembe Khoza also confirmed that the utility’s head of legal services Suzanne Daniels was suspended this week for‚ among other allegations‚ spending R50 000 on a team-building exercise.

After initially saying he had only been informed that Daniels was suspended‚ Khoza then said the board had recommended to Dladla that “corrective action” be taken against Daniels after the allegations were discussed at a board meeting.

Daniels said she was handed a suspension letter that cited the outing‚ which she is accused of spending funds on irregularly‚ as well as “destroying crucial documents” and “not adhering to instructions to respond to parliamentary questions”.

Daniels compiled a report implicating senior managers in the Trillian/ McKinsey saga‚ which cost the state-owned power utility more than R1.6billion.

Trillian‚ which until July was majority owned by close Gupta associate Salim Essa‚ was paid R495million without a contract being in place.

The Eskom executive and board have been criticised for dragging their feet in dealing with the Trillian matter decisively. Sources with intimate knowledge of the matter said yesterday that Daniels was suspended after Khoza “put pressu on Dladla.

“No‚ I think she is suspended on the basis of the investigation that has been done‚” Khoza said yesterday.

“She is suspended on a number of charges but the chief executive is the one who knows the most on what lies in the charges.

“I was only informed that she was suspended‚” Khoza said.

“One of the issues that were brought to the board‚ was the say of the chief executive to take corrective action.

“It’s one of the issues that was raised [at a board meeting]‚ the R50 000 that was spent‚” Khoza said‚ adding that it was contained in a “report that we saw”.

When pushed‚ he confirmed the board had recommended corrective action be taken against Daniels. — DDC