Eskom board chairperson Mpho Makwana will be replaced by Mteto Nyati, having stepped down from the post he occupied just over a year ago.
Makwana’s resignation was announced by Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan on Monday night.
Gordhan said Makwana decided to quit as Non-Executive Director of the Eskom Board at the AGM scheduled for the end of October.
He will utilise the remainder of October to hand over to the new Interim chairperson of the Board, Gordhan said.
“I am grateful for the opportunity afforded me by the Government of the Republic of South Africa to serve a second term as Chairperson of the Board of Directors of Eskom SOC Limited. I wish Eskom and its people success and thank its committed stewards for their unstinting efforts to revive the Utility. I thank the Minister for the positive amicable manner upon which we conclude my tenure,” said Makwana.
Gordhan said their efforts to stabilise Eskom and restructure it into three subsidiaries – generation, transmission, and distribution – remain on track.
“We wish to thank Mr Makwana for his contribution during the most difficult time for Eskom. We wish him well in his future endeavours.
As a government we are committed to ensuring that Eskom has the right skills, talent, and experience to support our pursuit of a more secure energy future for South Africans,” said Gordhan.
His resignation comes at a time when SOEs under Gordhan’s control have experienced a number of executives resigning. These include Transnet group chief executive Portia Derby, the company’s group chief financial officer and executive director on the board, Nonkululeko Dlamini and Transnet Freight Rail chief executive Sizakele Mzimela.
Gordhan’s critics claim these resignations were as a result of his interference, an allegation he has denied recently, saying: “Once again, we are confronted with the fact that our work is being subjected to deliberate distortions. This is unacceptable. These distortions are meant to sway the South African public from the progress that we are beginning to see as we work to implement the necessary changes.”
Cape Times