To Eskom’s credit, load shedding has been bearable for the past few days.
However, any institution will battle to convince the public of its capability to turn things around if it continues to lose more senior leaders in mysterious circumstances.
On Monday, Minister of Public Enterprises Pravin Gordhan told the nation that Eskom board chairperson Mpho Makwana had resigned from the position, just a year after he was appointed.
Gordhan wasted no time in naming Mteto Nyati as his successor.
Makwana had been appointed in September last year to help the power utility get out of trouble, particularly load shedding, which had started to reach unprecedented levels at the time.
Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa has said Eskom will need more than R250 billion to expand the grid, and that it is courting the private sector to invest in the project.
On the administrative side of the coin, Eskom has been without a CEO since André de Ruyter controversially resigned last December.
So, it is safe to say that Eskom is in dire trouble that isn’t about to go away any time soon.
This means that anyone who comes in at CEO or chairperson level in particular is always going to be judged by whether or not the lights remain on.
Gordhan, in the wake of the resignation of the board chairperson, assured the public that the efforts to stabilise the entity remained on track.
When De Ruyter dumped the Eskom ship, he said there were cartels operating at the entity in cahoots with high-ranking politicians.
There is thus little to be excited about at the Megawatt Park home of Eskom, regardless of the arrival of the new chairperson.
Nyati, along with Gordhan, Ramokgopa and others responsible for Eskom, just have to provide electricity – and then all will be forgiven.
Electricity generation units are going to break down at some point, but what matters is what happens when they do and how prepared Eskom is for this eventuality.
South Africans are tired of having to plan their lives around load-shedding schedules.
Cape Times