Sunday Times reports that as crisis-stricken Eskom experienced arguably its worst week of rolling blackouts last week, several well-placed insiders have reported on engagements between the Presidency and the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) about a new board.
The talks are expected to be finalised this week. President Cyril Ramaphosa used Saturday’s Heritage Day speech to say he would “speak soon” about what measures would be taken. Ramaphosa, who cut short a visit to the UK because of the severity of the power crisis, is expected to present names of proposed new board members to a special cabinet meeting this week. Apparently, when the cabinet met virtually last Wednesday, several ministers expressed dissatisfaction about the situation and a decision was taken for heads to roll. A high-ranking government source said: “Cabinet ministers said they must all go; the board and the executive must go. But the meeting adjourned and has not concluded.” Both the Presidency and the DPE, to which Eskom reports, would neither confirm nor deny the discussions. Officially, the cabinet said it was still engaged in “intensive deliberations”. On public calls to fire Eskom’s board and CEO André de Ruyter, DPE Minister Pravin Gordhan said: “I don’t really want to comment at this stage.” This was in stark contrast to what Gordhan said a month ago when he expressed confidence in Eskom’s leadership and management. Presidency spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said Ramaphosa and his cabinet were applying their minds and all options were on the table “because the problems at Eskom are much broader than just one element of governance”. De Ruyter indicated he would welcome a stronger board. He said Eskom had been asking for some time for new board members as the pressure on the current directors has grown because of a number of resignations.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Amanda Khoza, Sabelo Skiti & Kgothatso Madisa at Sunday Times (subscriber access only)
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