On Friday, the minister of public enterprises Pravin Gordhan announced the new Eskom board and tasked it with reviewing the current executives at the power utility and turning around the failing SOE. However, the new board will only be able to effect change at the top level and won’t solve the mountain of problems at the power utility overnight.
EDITORIAL: New Eskom board is no quick fix for a turnaround
Business Day writes the board alone cannot solve the issues at Eskom and while executives and former board members have been crying out for years that government should add much-needed people with skills and expertise to the board it has taken an unprecedented bout of stage 6 load shedding to move Gordhan into gear. The minister replaced all the non-executive directors on the board bar one and while the new members have engineering and accounting backgrounds, only returning chairperson Mpho Makwana has seen the inside of a power station. It will take time for the new board to get to grips with the situation at Eskom and realise the scale of the necessary turnaround. (Business Day)
Changing Eskom’s board is a futile exercise, and De Ruyter faces precarious future
Political analyst Ralph Mathekga writes that the changing of the board may just be a manoeuvre by the government “to create the impression that the problem at Eskom has to do with the board and senior management.” Mathekga continues by writing that there may well be problems in how management has dealt with issues at Eskom as they emerge but there is another important factor to take into consideration. “The management at Eskom or any other company can only execute the mandate that has been given to them by shareholders, and the shareholders must be clear and resolute about the mandate.” (News24, for subscribers)
Here’s what else we’re reading today:
- BUSISIWE MAVUSO: Where the private sector interacted with state capture – Business Day (for subscribers)
- Adriaan Basson | Anything-but-the-ANC coalitions not a silver bullet – News24 (for subscribers)
- JUSTICE MALALA | I fear the ANC is just going to fill its boots until the next election – Times LIVE (for subscribers)
- PALI LEHOHLA | Unemployment, poverty and inequality must be addressed for an economic policy to be successful – Times LIVE (for subscribers)
