South Africa Announces New ESKOM Board Amid Increasing Blackouts
South Africa’s Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan has announced a new ESKOM board replacing its chair as the power crisis continues unabated.
He also appointed 13 non-executive directors who collectively bring engineering, energy policy and delivery, and accounting expertise.
Gordhan has retained Dr Rod Crompton, an expert in policy on energy, who will be part of the new Eskom board.
These are the new board members:
1). Mpho Makwana is the new Eskom board chair. Makwana was the acting CEO of Eskom from 2009 and 2010, leading the power utility’s team that kept the lights on during the 2010 Fifa World Cup.
2). Busisiwe Vilakazi, who holds a BPhil in engineering science from Oxford University. She’s the head of research innovation at the State Information Technology Agency.
3). Lwazi Goqwana has a background in manufacturing, construction, financial services, logistics, and energy. He previously worked in the Department of Public Works. From 2019 to 2021, he was on the ministerial task team improvements and recommendations for Eskom.
4). Mthetho Nyathi has a degree in mechanical engineering and was chief executive of MTN SA. He served in IBM and Microsoft, as well as group CEO at Altron.
5). Leslie Mkhabela is an attorney, experienced in the restructuring of state-owned assets.
6). Fatima Ghani is a chartered accountant operating within the financial sector in various capacities, as well as in businesses that have operated in the middle east and across the African continent.
7). Ayanda Mafuleka is a chartered accountant and CEO of Fasset, a Sector Education and Training Authority for the finance, accounting, and management consulting sectors.
8). Tsakani Mthombeni has experience working for mining giants Gold Fields and Anglo American. A senior engineer, Mthombeni was responsible for ensuring that Anglo’s mining operations adapted to climate change.
9). Claudelle von Eck is a change management expert.
10). Tryphosa Romano is a chartered accountant whose experience includes overseeing the assets and liabilities of National Treasury and being CFO at cement company PPC.
11). Bheki Ntshalintshali is a trade unionist and previously the general secretary of Cosatu.
12). Clive le Roux was chief nuclear officer at Eskom, having had key roles at Koeberg and Matimba. Le Roux has been helping Eskom in the last ten years but is now retired. He was a member of the team of experienced engineers familiar with the Eskom plant.
13). Rod Crompton is director of the Energy Leadership Centre at Wits Business School. He has experience in policy, strategy and economic regulation in the energy sector.
The new board has been appointed on a three-year term, effective from 1 October 2022. Gordhan said the mandate of the new board will include, among other things, supporting the efforts of Eskom’s executive leadership to improve the performance of its power stations, which are susceptible to breakdowns that cause rolling blackouts.
