The inaugural board of directors of the National Transmission Company of South Africa (NTCSA), which was announced by the Eskom board last week, will be chaired by Priscillah Mabelane, who is also the executive VP of Sasol’s energy business.

The long-awaited appointment represents a significant milestone in the legal separation of Eskom into three separate entities of generation, distribution and transmission.

The NTCSA’s separation has been prioritised because of the importance of having an independent transmission entity for levelling the playing field in an electricity supply industry that is transitioning to include multiple generators.

The NTCSA is already registered as a business and last year received approval for the three requisite licences from the National Energy Regulator of South Africa.

“The appointment of the NTCSA board takes Eskom a step closer to unlocking the potential that comes with the planned transformation of the electricity industry,” Eskom chairperson Mteto Nyati.

At Sasol, Mabelane is playing a central role in the JSE-listed group’s own ‘Just Energy Transition’ away from its current reliance on coal to produce transport fuels and various chemicals, with Sasol having outlined a vision for unlocking South Africa’s potential to be a global green hydrogen and derivatives producer.

She is a chartered acountant, and the Eskom statement adds that she has experience in leadership, corporate finance, strategy, energy and risk.

The 11 members of the board were identified as including:

• Dr Brian Armstrong, who has been appointed as the lead independent director, and who has 30 years of top-level management experience in the telecommunications, information technology, research and development and systems engineering sectors, both in South Africa and abroad, including as COO and chief commercial officer of Telkom;

• Lungile Mashele, an energy economist and banker with more than 12 years of energy industry experience in Africa, including in her current position as an energy and infrastructure specialist at the Public Investment Corporation;

• Carmen Le Grange, a chartered accountant with 22 years’ experience, including being a former Denel CFO;

• Anu Sing, who has more than 25 years’ experience at board and executive level, including five years with the MTN Group;

• Nkosinathi Solomon, who holds an MBA degree and a BSc in chemical engineering, and is described as having a good understanding of the energy landscape, as well as experience in leading transforming organisations;

• Professor Mark Swilling, who ended a stint as Development Bank of Southern Africa chair in September 2023, and who is the co-director of the Centre for Sustainability Transitions at Stellenbosch University;

• Auke Lontm, who, with 25 years of industry experience, is described as being highly recognised internationally in the transmission system operator environment, having been CEO of Norway’s Statnett;

• Professor Francis Petersen, who is the Rector and Vice Chancellor of the University of the Free State in South Africa and previous executive head of strategy at Anglo American Platinum;

• Sedzani Mudau, who has 19 years’ business experience and is the executive director of Favest Advisory, board chairperson at Sentech and a nonexecutive director of Ellies Holdings;

• Dr Busisiwe Vilakazi, who holds a DPhil in engineering science from the University of Oxford and is the head of research and innovation at SITA; and

• Tryphosa Ramano, a chartered accountant, who is described as a corporate governance expert and strategist, and has experience in financial services, manufacturing, aviation, and as an entrepreneur.

The NTCSA is expected to be operationalised by the start of the new financial year on April 1, but Eskom said that further announcements regarding the NTCSA would be made at the right time.

No update was provided regarding the status of bondholder support for the unbundling, which, together with licence awards and the appointment of the board, is a condition for the NTCSA’s operationalisation.