New Eskom CEO to be named ‘shortly’
South Africa will name a chief executive officer for beleaguered power utility Eskom by the end of the year, Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan said.
Eskom has been without a full-time head for more than seven months, while freight company Transnet’s CEO said she will leave at the end of October. Finding the new head for Transnet will take longer, Gordhan said.
“Both the entities will have CEOs shortly,” Gordhan said in an interview with Bloomberg TV. “Finding the right person is a difficult challenge in the southern African context.”
Africa’s most industrialised nation has been struggling in its bid to revive the two-state monopolies. Incessant power outages implemented by Eskom and Transnet’s inability to run rail operations at capacity impairs mineral exports and has roiled the $406 billion economy.
Inefficiencies at Transnet may have cost the country R150 billion ($8 billion) in exports last year, according to the Minerals Council.
Glencore and Seriti Resources, over the past two weeks, have started talks to cut hundreds of jobs in the country as their ability to export coal is stymied.
Transnet, which transports the fuel from mines in Mpumalanga province to Richards Bay Coal Terminal, has been hobbled by sabotage, cable theft and ageing equipment. While it has taken steps to improve security and ease procurement rules to lower costs, performance has declined.
“Transnet’s operations are a crucial cog in the country’s economy,” the National Union of Mineworkers, a labour group, said in a statement calling for President Cyril Ramaphosa to intervene. “The situation is very dire.”
Glencore started a so-called Section 189 process, beginning consultations with labour on job cuts, according to NUM. The process could affect more than 200 workers at its iMpunzi coal mining complex, online publication News24 reported earlier. The company declined to comment.
That adds to potential cuts of more than 600 workers at Seriti’s Klipspruit opencast mine, Chief Financial Officer Doug Gain said in reply to questions on 20 September.
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