Two new names added to the much-awaited Eskom board

PUBLIC Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown has retained the same people in the new Eskom board with the exception of health ombudsman Professor Malegapuru Makgoba and academic and lawyer Professor Tshepo Mongalo.

Acting chairman of Eskom Zethembe Khoza, who was implicated in allegations of bribery in the state capture inquiry in Parliament, has been retained in his position until June next year.

The cabinet endorsed the new board at its meeting this week after a few days delay, and yesterday Brown announced only two new names on the board.

Brown said the board was appointed for three years and Khoza’s position of chair- person will be reviewed in June at an annual general meeting.

The appointment of the board came after Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba promised in his medium term policy statement in October that a new board will be in place by the end of November.

This followed concerns raised by the markets on corporate governance issues at Eskom.

In his budget speech Gigaba said Eskom posed a risk to the economy.

Eskom has guarantees of R350 billion and most are from government.

Eskom was given a bailout of R83bn two years ago when the government was forced to sell its stake in Vodacom to give R23bn to Eskom and it converted its R63bn loan into equity.

The power utility has come under pressure following allegations of state capture.

Khoza admitted in the inquiry into state capture this week he would give Eskom three out of 10 in terms of its performance.

Khoza took over from Ben Ngubane, when the latter resigned a few months ago.

Brown said she was trying to find the right balance of skills in the board.

She wants the board to deal with corporate governance issues at Eskom.

“The board and management must take strides, within its control, to address internal control deficiencies and the finalisation of Eskom’s own investigations,” said Brown.

But the problems at Eskom were also highlighted when one candidate declined to join the power utility because of the “highly-charged environment in which Eskom is operating.”

Brown said the first order of business for the board was to get a new chief executive.

This followed the resignation of Brian Molefe at the end of 2016 following the release of former public protector Thuli Madonsela’s report into state capture.