Rehired vets get warm welcome as they tackle problems

● A former Eskom employee who has been rehired as a manager at an Mpumalanga power station says he has been welcomed back by staff at the power utility.

“I expected the unions to be difficult but I even received a visit from Numsa [the National Union of Metalworkers of SA] in my office to talk about all the vacant middlemanagement positions that are creating instability,” said the engineer, who left Eskom in 2019 after 34 years at power stations.

Eskom told the Sunday Times this week it had rehired two former employees and eight more were scheduled to join next month. It supplied the names of the employees but asked that they not be published to avoid possible victimisation by other staff members. The manager, who began at Eskom as an engineer in training in 1986, said that when he returned last month there were 11 vacancies, but he had started to address the issue.

“We have already filled five, with the sixth being filled.”

The manager, who holds an engineering degree, a BCom and an MBA, said his reception had been “positive”.

He spent the last few years abroad working in the same industry and returned earlier this year. “I actually work in a lower position now than I should, but that is good for Eskom. I have more experience than a person on my current level.”

He said the Eskom management style had changed since he left in 2019 — “and not in a good way. It has become too bureaucratic.

Our organisation should be focused on our main job, which is the technical job of generating power. Not other side issues. You struggle to get things done with all the red tape you have to deal with.”

Another change was the criminality spreading across the entity. “When I last worked here it was basically an upper-level management issue. Now it has spread to middle and lower-level management.”

He said the public did not understand the challenges the national power supplier faced.

“Our power station consists of 50,000 components. If one of them breaks down, it can lead to a total shutdown … That is a lot of traffic and moving parts to handle.”

Corruption was a challenge. “It makes life difficult for us. Whether it is parts paid for but not delivered, work paid for but not done, or theft. You expect a piece of equipment to function at a certain level, but work that you are under the impression was done and paid for, never happened.”

But it was “not all doom and gloom”. “There are many hardworking employees. They must be protected against those who are here to undermine.”

The disciplinary process is also a problem. “We currently have five of our best technical people on suspension. This opens the door for others with more nefarious plans.”

The second former employee who has returned works at the Koeberg nuclear plant near Cape Town.

“I qualified as an analytical chemist. I have 34 years of commercial nuclear experience and retired from Koeberg in 2017 as the plant manager — who is the senior technical manager responsible for the safe operation of the two reactors. During my tenure Koeberg power station achieved world-class performance standards,” he told the Sunday Times.

Since his departure, he has been consulting in the UAE, Finland and Egypt. He returned to Eskom last month as a senior adviser, working with the leadership team at the power station.

“I have been assisting the team focus on outage management and have started mentoring some of the technical managers. I have had a good reception. I have found the staff willing to listen and appreciative of the insights I can provide. I hope my contribution can assist the Koeberg team in addressing the challenges they are facing.”

I expected the unions to be difficult but even received a visit from Numsa in my office to talk about all the vacant middlemanagement positions

Rehired employee