Eskom chair Mpho Makwana says management to get ‘benefit of doubt’

Eskom’s new chair Mpho Makwana says the board isn’t planning immediate changes to management as it conducts an assessment of the company’s power plants. 

Makwana, appointed along with almost all the board members last week, said the plants’ performance would be reviewed over the next 30 to 60 days to ascertain how to make them operational at an average of 75% of the time, a target set by public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan.

Their electricity availability factor, a measure of when they can produce electricity, is less than 60%. 

“We have to assume office and give the existing team the benefit of the doubt,” Makwana said in an interview with Newzroom Afrika.

He said CEO Andre de Ruyter’s “heart is in the right place. We have to applaud him and support him for as long as he is group CEO.”

The board’s appointment comes as SA is suffering its worst-ever blackouts as Eskom’s plants keep breaking down. The government and the utility’s management are facing increasing criticism, with President Cyril Ramaphosa last month cancelling a trip to the US to return home to deal with the crisis.

Eskom’s management blames years of skimping on maintenance for the poor performance of the plants.

Gordhan has repeatedly complained about corruption that took place at the utility during the rule of former president Jacob Zuma, who was forced out of office in 2018. Zuma has denied wrongdoing.

Makwana said renewable energy was unlikely to be able to supply all of SA’s electricity needs, while care also had to be taken to protect the livelihoods of coal-dependent communities as the country reduced its reliance on that fuel.

SA gets more than 80% of its power from coal and about 10% from renewable energy.

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