Former Eskom chief finds new employment

·28 Aug 2015

Former Eskom chief executive, Tshediso Matona, has been appointed to a new position in government.

According to BusinessDay, Matona will take up the position as secretary of national planning in the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation.

Matona had previously served as CEO at the power utility, having been appointed in August 2014. However, his tenure was relatively short lived following his suspension in March 2015.

The board at Eskom had requested that Motana step down so that it could conduct an independent review on the status of, among other things:

The poor performance of generation plant
Delays in bringing the new generation plant on-stream
High costs of primary energy
Cash flow challenges

Matona challenged his suspension at the Labour Court, but Judge Benita Witcher struck his application off the roll.

The Sunday Times alleged that Matona received a package equal to about 18 months salary to go quietly.

The utility’s financial statements showed that he was paid about R4.7 million during the 2014 financial year.

This suggested that Matona’s severance package would be over R7 million.

Matona was a former DG of Trade and industry, between 2006 – 2010.

Academic Qualifications

He holds graduate degrees in Economics and Politics from the University of
Cape Town (UCT);
Masters in Development Economics from the University of East Anglia (UK);
Various certificates, including an Executive Management certificate, and a
certificate in Infrastructure Development from Harvard University’s JF Kennedy School of Government.

An economist by training and an experienced public administrator, Motana held several senior positions in Government throughout his career, and served as a trade diplomat at the SA Embassy to the United Nations (UN) and World Trade Organisation (WTO) in Geneva, Switzerland from 1996 to 1998.