The parliamentary committee that oversees state-owned entities has welcomed the appointment of the new Eskom CEO, saying this ends months of speculation of who was going to take over.
THE PARLIAMENTARY committee that oversees state-owned entities has welcomed the appointment of the new Eskom CEO, saying that this ends months of speculation of who was going to take over.
The chairperson of the National Assembly’s portfolio committee on public enterprises, Khaya Magaxa, said they hope Dan Marokane will be able to pull Eskom out of its crisis.
He said the committee plans to meet with Eskom early next year and to understand what are the plans for the new CEO.
Magaxa said former Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter was not able to rescue the entity.
Eskom is in deep financial crisis after it posted another loss of R23.9 billion in the last financial year. This follows another loss of R11.9bn in the previous financial year.
Parliament this week passed the Eskom Debt Relief Amendment Bill, which is a bailout of R254 billion that was announced in the budget.
“This bill seeks to amend the Eskom Debt Relief Act of 2023, to provide for payment of interest by Eskom on amounts advanced as a loan. Prior to the current amendment, the 2023 Eskom Debt Relief Act provided for interest-free loans to the power utility. Now, the Minister of Finance can set the rate of interest and should the power utility not comply with the conditions set, the minister can reduce the amounts paid to Eskom,” said Parliament.
Magaxa said Marokane’s appointment comes at the right time as he was involved with Eskom before and has full understanding of the operations.
“This is a good step forward. We appreciate that this process has been finalised. We are happy since this is a person that is familiar with the environment,” said Magaxa.
He added that this will bring some level of stability at Eskom. The committee will now be able to deal with a permanent CEO instead of a person who is acting in the position.
The committee was planning to meet with Eskom early next year.
WARNING
Political parties have meanwhile cautiously welcomed the appointment of Marokane, but warned that his appointment will not solve the crisis at the power utility as the problems are far deeper than believed.
The IFP, UDM and DA said Marokane will not single-handedly resolve the serious crisis at Eskom.
IFP national spokesperson Mkhuleko Hlengwa said on Saturday only time will tell whether Marokane will succeed at Eskom or nor.
His appointment follows the departure of De Ruyter in December last year after two years in charge of the power utility.
Hlengwa said Marokane has a lot of hard work ahead of him.
For the past two years South Africa has been faced with severe power cuts costing the economy billions of rand.
Hlengwa said they hope Marokane will succeed when he takes over, but there are a lot of challenges at Eskom.
“The appointment of an Eskom CEO is a case of déjà vu for South Africa. It’s a road we have travelled many a times and the Eskom challenges persist and the disappointment is omnipresent. So the hype is no longer warranted. Only results will tell whether we are making progress or not.
“Therefore, the appointment of Dan Marokane is duly noted. We wish him well in his new responsibilities. The weight of the country and its economy loom large and now sit on his shoulders. For the sake of our country, may he be successful,” said Hlengwa.
UDM leader Bantu Holomisa said the problems at Eskom did not depend on one individual.
He said they were far deeper than what government is telling the public.
People have been brought in in the past and the public was told they will solve the crisis at Eskom, but things got worse. The government has not played open cards with the nation, said Holomisa.
“The issue of Eskom does not depend on one person. It’s just that the government is not telling us what is going on,“ said Holomisa.
DA MP and its spokesperson on public enterprises Mimmy Gondwe said they rejected the appointment of Marokane as he will not bring anything new.
She said Marokane worked at Eskom in the past and he will not substantially change the fortunes of the power utility.
If South Africa wanted to get out of load shedding, Marokane was not the right person for the job, she said.
“What Eskom needed as a new CEO was a rank outsider, someone with tried and tested technical and engineering expertise to run aging power stations while at the same time ramping up capacity to expand generation from renewable energy sources,” said Gondwe.
