Photo by: Creamer Media's Donna Slater
Dan Marokane is expected to be appointed as the new CEO of South Africa’s state power utility Eskom Holdings after an almost year-long search for a candidate, according to people familiar with the decision.
The company’s failure to boost generation from its old and poorly maintained power plants has led to nationwide electricity outages — implemented to prevent a total collapse of the grid. The worsening situation has weighed on a process to fill the top job at Eskom, which has had 14 leaders since 2007.
“The process is with the shareholder to finalize and make the decision,” Eskom spokeswoman Daphne Mokwena said. She referred further questions to the government, which hasn’t made any formal announcement on the appointment. Ellis Mnyandu, a spokesperson for the Department of Public Enterprises, declined to comment.
Marokane, who previously served as Eskom’s head of group capital and is currently CEO of troubled sugar producer Tongaat Hulett, will have to begin the process of reviving the foundering utility months before South Africa votes in national elections. The energy crisis — the central bank has said that blackouts may have reduced the economic growth rate by as much as 3.2 percentage points last year — may in part result in the governing African National Congress seeing its support slip to as low at 45% next year, according to one survey.
Companies — reeling from blackouts and inefficiencies at the state-run logistics firm — have been slashing jobs to keep costs under control.
Andre de Ruyter said he would resign as CEO in December last year and quit the beleaguered company following a television interview in which he said that Eskom was losing about R1-billion a month to corruption and theft that could be connected to government officials and politicians. Calib Cassim, the company’s chief financial officer, has been the interim head since De Ruyter left.
In September, the search for De Ruyter’s successor raised tensions between the board of Eskom — which reported a R23.9-billion net loss for the past financial year — and Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan, who oversees the company.
A month later, Mpho Makwana resigned as chairperson of Eskom. He was replaced by Mteto Nyati, a former MTN Group executive and ex-chief executive officer of Altron.