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BL Premium reports that according to insiders in government and at Eskom, Mpho Makwana's departure as the power utility’s board chair has been long coming.
Some people described him as a “maverick” who often had a disregard for process, something for which Eskom’s shareholder, public enterprise minister Pravin Gordhan, is historically known to be a stickler. Makwana and Gordhan clashed publicly over the appointment of a new group CEO for the power utility to replace André de Ruyter. The Eskom board only submitted one candidate instead of the required three. “PG [Pravin Gordhan] does not take kindly to being embarrassed, that was the last straw. There had been some other major issues around transmission challenges,” a government source said, adding that conversations about Makwana’s exit and his possible replacement started months ago. “He seemed to have very quickly forgotten that he reports to the minister and it is the minister that is blamed for everything that Eskom could be or should be doing faster to end load-shedding,” the source pointed out. “He has also gradually stopped taking advice from us on important matters,” an Eskom board member claimed. “Everyone had long been convinced that he should go, it was about the timing,” another government source said. Gordhan took months to respond to the board’s preferred CEO candidate, saying in a statement that no appointment could be made because the board had failed to comply with the memorandum of incorporation by not submitting three candidates for the role of CEO as prescribed. Both Gordhan and Makwana when contacted said they would prefer to stick to their public statement, that in the end they parted ways amicably.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Hajra Omarjee & Denene Erasmus at BusinessLive (subscriber access only)
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