Brian Molefe
Photo by: Duane Daws
Cabinet has approved the appointment of Brian Molefe as permanent CEO of State-owned electricity producer Eskom and has also confirmed Dr Ben Ngubane as permanent board chairperson.
Molefe has been acting CEO since his secondment from Transnet in April, while Ngubane took over as acting chairperson on March 30, after Zola Tsotsi resigned.
Molefe’s secondment followed the suspension of four executives, including CEO Tshediso Matona, on March 12; a move that was said to be necessary to facilitate an unfettered board enquiry into the underperformance of the utility.
Three of the executives had since departed the organisation, with only Matshela Koko returning to his role as executive for commercial and technology. Matona had since been appointed Secretary for National Planning in the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation, which fell under Minister in The Presidency Jeff Radebe.
Cabinet also endorsed the appointment of Anoj Singh, who was also seconded from Transnet to Eskom on August 1, as CFO of the State-owned company.
Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown welcomed the appointments, describing them as “part of my ongoing interventions to stabilise Eskom”.
“I want to thank the Transnet board for agreeing to second Mr Molefe and Mr Singh to Eskom. Now that they have been permanently appointed at Eskom, I have requested the board to start the process to fill these vacancies at Transnet,” Brown said in a statement.
Transnet had, meanwhile, appointed Siyabonga Gama as acting CEO, while group chief supply chain officer Garry Pita, had been appointed acting CFO during Singh’s secondment.