South Africa will soon announce CEO for crisis-hit utility Eskom – Ramaphosa
President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Monday that the government will soon announce a permanent CEO for State-run Eskom, after the struggling power utility reintroduced rolling blackouts last week.
The crisis-hit utility, which produces more than 90% of South Africa's electricity, has been hobbled by technical and financial woes, and implemented days of power cuts last week after a number of its generating units broke down.
Eskom's decision highlighted the challenge Ramaphosa faces in rescuing the State-run firm, whose problems hurt his efforts to restore investor confidence in South Africa and turn around a flagging economy.
In a statement, Ramaphosa said the return of power cuts underscored the urgency of action required, and the government will do all it can to restore Eskom to viability and tackle its "daunting" level of debt.
The company's debt stood at more than R440-billion in 2018/19, when the company reported a mammoth R20.7-billion annual loss.
"We will soon be announcing the appointment of a permanent Eskom CEO who, together with a strengthened board, will be tasked with turning the entity around," he said, adding the person would be guided by a special paper on Eskom which would also be released shortly.
Specific measures he highlighted included the long-planned restructuring of Eskom into three entities, improving Eskom's credit rating and tackling the high levels of debt owed to the company by defaulting municipalities, government departments and individual customers.
Eskom said on Sunday that no power cuts were currently planned for Monday, though the power system remained constrained and they could be implemented at short notice if necessary.
The utility's acting CEO, Jabu Mabuza, said last week that a new CEO for the company would likely be announced before the end of October.
Comments
The
functionality
you are trying to access is only available to subscribers.
If you are already a subscriber, you can Login Here.
If you are not a subscriber, you can subscribe now, by selecting one of the below options.
For more information or assistance, please contact us at subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za.
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation