Eskom names new board – bringing much-needed engineering skills to the fold
South Africa revamped the board of state power utility Eskom, including naming Mpho Makwana as its new chairman, as the government searches for solutions to end a worsening energy crisis that’s crippling the economy.
Eskom, which supplies more than 90% of the power used in Africa’s most industrialized economy, has imposed record power cuts this year, despite a program to improve maintenance on its old and unreliable coal-fired plants. The addition of several board members with technical expertise is the latest move by President Cyril Ramaphosa’s administration to improve its performance.
The board was announced by Public Enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan on Friday (30 September).
Makwana serves on a number of other boards, including as a non-executive chairman of ArcelorMittal South Africa. Several of the new appointees have technical backgrounds, including Le Roux, Eskom’s chief nuclear officer, and Goqwana, an engineer.
Rod Crompton, who served on the previous board, will retain his post, as will chief executive officer Andre de Ruyter and chief financial officer Calib Cassim.
Efforts to disrupt operations, which have included sabotage, continue at the utility, said Gordhan, who expects outages to decline next week.
Ramaphosa has called for the rapid procurement of more power from privately owned plants for the past two years, but that initiative has encountered procedural and legal delays, and new plants will take months if not years to be brought online.
De Ruyter has said that as much as 6,000 megawatts of capacity is needed to stabilise the system.
Most of Eskom’s previous board members were appointed in December 2017. They include its Chairman Malegapuru Makgoba, a molecular immunologist, Tshepo Mongalo, a law professor, and Banothile Makhubela, who has a doctorate in chemistry. Before Friday’s announcement, the number of board members was down to just five, after several resignations.
The list of 12 new non-executive board members is as follows:
- Mpho Makwana (Chair) — Current chairperson of the Nedbank Group. Dismissed from Eskom board after nine years during state capture period. Served as interim Eskom CEO.
- Dr Busisiwe Vilakazi — Former Council for Scientific and Industrial Engineering researchers and leader. Holds PhD in Engineering Science from Oxford University.
- Mteto Nyati — Former MTN and Altron CEO and executive at IBM and Microsoft. Holds BSc degree in Mechanical Engineering from UKZN.
- Lwazi Gogwana — Engineer with 25 years of experience in manufacturing, construction, financial services, logistics, energy, and government services.
- Dr Tshakani Mthombeni — Gold Fields energy management and climate change strategist. Former Anglo American senior energy engineer.
- Leslie Mkhabela — Attorney, director and chairperson of Mkhabela Huntley Attorneys.
- Fathima Gany — Chartered accountant with 20 years of experience as a financial leader for several state-owned entities.
- Ayanda Mofaleka — Chartered accountant and former CEO of the National Credit Regulator.
- Claudelle von Eck — Former CEO of Institute of Internal Auditors of South Africa. Works as organisational development and change manager.
- Tryphosa Romano — Chartered accountant, former CFO of various companies and National Treasury employee
- Bheki Ntshalintshali— Former trade unionist.
- Clive le Roux — Chief nuclear officer at Eskom and experienced general manager of Matimba and Koeberg nuclear power stations
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