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\u2019s crippling the economy.<\/p>\n
Eskom, which supplies more than 90% of the power used in Africa\u2019s 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\u2019s administration to improve its performance.<\/p>\n
The board was announced by Public Enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan on Friday (30 September).<\/p>\n
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\u2019s chief nuclear officer, and Goqwana, an engineer.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Efforts to disrupt operations, which have included sabotage, continue at the utility, said Gordhan, who expects outages to decline next week.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
De Ruyter has said that as much as 6,000 megawatts of capacity is needed to stabilise the system.<\/p>\n
Most of Eskom\u2019s 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\u2019s announcement, the number of board members was down to just five, after several resignations.<\/p>\n
The list of 12 new non-executive board members is as follows:<\/p>\n