Africa-Press – South-Africa. Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan said on Tuesday that he will “restructure and reconstitute” the Eskom board and make an announcement on the matter in due course.
Gordhan met with the directors of Eskom on Tuesday to inform them of this decision and thank them for their service. The term of the board ended in 2021. Gordhan has said on dozens of occasions over the past 18 months that he was “reviewing” the board.
“The minister informed the board that a review has been finalised and that the board will soon be reconstituted and restructured. The board members will be informed of the outcome of the process,” the department said in a statement.
Eskom, which can have a maximum of 13 non-executive directors, has only six. Seven have resigned, with the first resignation in 2018, and have not been replaced. The remaining directors, whose term began in 2018, have appealed to Gordhan for several years to fill the vacancies on the board. It is critically short of the skills it needs, particularly in engineering and the electricity supply industry.
With the crisis around Eskom deepening, Cabinet resolved last week that the Eskom board should be strengthened. It is unclear whether the entire board will be replaced or some directors will be retained to allow for continuity.
The board, which has been chaired by Professor Malegapuru Makgoba, since the resignation of Jabu Mabuza in 2020 has strongly supported the leadership of Eskom CEO André de Ruyter.
While there was a strong sentiment expressed in last week’s Cabinet meeting that De Ruyter should be fired, there has been no indication yet of what Gordhan intends to do.
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