Transnet CFO Anoj Singh will, on August 1, join Eskom as acting CFO.

The boards of directors of Transnet and Eskom agreed to second him to the power utility for six months.

This followed the secondment of Transnet CEO Brian Molefe as Eskom acting CEO, in April, and the extension of his contract, this week, for a further three months.

Eskom’s board in March suspended former CEO Tshediso Matona and former FD Tsholofelo Molefe, along with former executive for group capital Dan Marokane and acting group executive for commercial and technology Matshela Koko, following a board decision to institute a three-month inquiry into the state of the troubled business.

Matona, Tsholofelo Molefe and Marokane had since left the power utility, after having “mutually agreed to part ways on an amicable basis”.

Although Eskom’s board had initially stressed that the four suspended executives had not been suspected of any wrongdoing, it said in a statement on Wednesday that its investigation had cleared the executives of any wrongdoing and that Koko would return to work with immediate effect.

As acting Eskom CFO, Singh would be responsible for driving all aspects of the utility’s finance strategy, including the R250-billion funding plan, and he would attend both the Eskom board and executive committee meetings.

He would be primarily tasked with transforming the company’s finance function, aligning it with the key strategic priorities of the generation, funding and build programme, while enhancing the approach to tariff applications.

Transnet, meanwhile, announced that group chief supply chain officer Garry Pita, had been appointed acting CFO during Singh’s secondment to Eskom.

Pita, a chartered accountant, had worked at Transnet for the past ten years and previously also held senior positions at KPMG.

To ensure a smooth transition, Singh was currently engaged in a handover process and would avail himself whenever Transnet required him.

Singh, a chartered accountant, had been Transnet CFO for the past six years.

He led Transnet’s treasury operations, which saw the company raising billions of rands in both domestic and international markets. Under his leadership, Transnet had accessed funding from investors in Canada, the US, Germany and China, besides others. 

Further, throughout his leadership, Transnet maintained an above investment grade rating while raising funds on the strength of its balance sheet.

During his tenure as CFO, Transnet launched its rolling seven-year infrastructure investment programme, which currently stood at R336-billion.

This included the acquisition of the 1 064 locomotives – one of South Africa’s single biggest capital investment transactions. He co-led Transnet’s negotiating team with the original-equipment manufacturers and had already raised more than 90% of the required funding for the R50-billion contract.

Singh had extensive experience in financial strategy development and execution, capital projects assurance, treasury, corporate finance, investor relations, tax and funding for regulated businesses.