- On 9 October, Eskom Board Chairperson Mpho Makwana tendered his resignation, effective 31 October, just a year after his appointment;
- The resignation comes after the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA) had, in May, accused Makwana and his board of not acting in the best interests of country in their spat with former CEO Andre de Ruyter;
- In recent months Makwana and his board had recommended that former Eskom head of group capital Dan Marokane replace de Ruyter as he was the only appointable candidate;
- However, Department of Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan rejected the recommendation, stating that the board was supposed to nominate 3 names and these should not exclude candidates over 60. It is believed that this could created an impasse between himself and Makwana;
- Business Leadership South Africa CEO Busi Mavuso has noted that the SOE boards are disempowered as the minister can ignore the board in executive appointment processes which further undermines governance;
- Makwana will be replaced by former Altron and MTN South Africa CEO Mteto Nyathi who recently stepped down from the boards of Nedbank, Massmart and Telkom;
- Gordhan has noted that government is committed to ensuring that Eskom has the “right skills, talent and experience to create an energy secure future.”
- Makwana's resignation is concerning as Eskom continues to have unstable executive and board leadership, which is important to turning around the fortunes of the utility.
- The fact that the entity still lacks a permanent CEO almost a year after de Ruyter’s resignation, also sparks questions about the political leadership of Minister Gordhan and his commitment to good governance practices.
- Nyati’s appointment will allow him to use institutional memory to assist with the direction of the company as he is currently a non-executive director at the SOE;
- Makwana’s resignation comes amid several other high-profile resignations across critical SOEs such as Transnet. It could highlight issues within the DPE as several institutions under its control such as Denel, Transnet, Eskom, SAA and Alexkor have interim/ acting CEOs and/ or boards.
- The Department itself has not had a permanent Director General since the departure of former DG Kgathatso Tlakudi. Perhaps Minister Gordhan has a problem with permanency.
