Getting Eskom On Track

A new-look board and sweeping changes – the embattled state-owned enterprise is undergoing a much-need makeover. And it’s not too little too late, experts say.

- Richard Van Rensburg

FOR years it’s been an albatross around our necks; a giant black hole that just gobbles money. Mired in corruption, mismanagement and allegations of cronyism and nepotism, Eskom – or Eishkom as it’s disparagingly known – has been a hopeless basket case.

But at last there appears to be light at the end of the tunnel. When he won the race to be the ANC’s new president, Cyril Ramaphosa vowed one of his first acts would be to stop the rot in South Africa’s largest state-owned enterprise (SOE). And it seems he intends to keep his promise.

Within the past few weeks there have been several sweeping changes: there’s a new acting chief executive cracking the whip and a new 13-member board and the axe has been falling on several top execs who allegedly helped President Jacob Zuma’s cronies, including the powerful Gupta family, to treat South Africa’s most important SOE as if it were their personal piggy bank.

Meanwhile parliament’s inquiry into state capture looks set to expose more misdeeds. So at last it seems the chickens have come home to roost. But what needs to be done to get Eskom back on track?

THE NEW ESKOM TEAM 

News of Phakamani Hadebe’s appointment as acting CEO was widely welcomed. He was formerly deputy director general in the national treasury and also helped to shake things up at the Land Bank.

He’ll be reporting to a new board consisting of seasoned businesspeople. They include Sifiso Da bengwa, former MTN CEO; Mark Lamberti, founder of retail group Massmart Holdings and currently CEO of Imperial Holdings Limited; and Sindi Mabaso-Koyana, a director at Toyota South Africa.