News24 Wire reports that Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan has asked trade union Solidarity to provide a list of people with the necessary technical skills to help government address the skills crisis at Eskom.
On 14 July, Gordhan wrote to the managing director of Solidarity, Dirk Hermann, to thank the trade union for its offer in May this year to mobilise critical skills. The minister informed Hermann that Eskom required power station engineers – including mechanical, nuclear, electrical, system and maintenance skills, as well as senior artisans and plant operators for coal and nuclear power stations. He was responding to a letter from Hermann sent on 25 May this year to Gordhan shortly after the latter’s budget vote speech in Parliament when the minister had indicated that Eskom lacked engineering and technical skills. "Since 2000, Eskom has implemented a radical transformation programme to accelerate the transformation process at the state-owned enterprise at a cost of approximately R1.8 billion, while this programme has in fact reduced Eskom’s engineering and technical skills base," Hermann wrote. Solidarity had previously offered to assist government in redeploying skilled and experienced engineers, and in the past set up a skills database for its members and others to register their experience and qualifications. In 2019, the union provided Gordhan with a list of 705 names - consisting of individuals holding a cumulative 731 accredited qualifications, with a combined work experience of more than 500 years - but nothing happened. Between May and July, Hermann said, Solidarity added another 450 names to its 2019 list, after calling for people to put their names forward. The trade union said it would now set up a panel and whittle down the 1,100-plus list to the top 100 people. He said: “These top 100 change agents will have the ability to make tangible contributions to turn Eskom around. The question is, if the political will truly exists from government and Eskom to accept these individuals with open arms, and to give them the opportunity to help turn it around?”
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard at Engineering News
- Lees ook, Regering vra Solidariteit se hulp met Eskom-krisis, by Maroela Media
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