Minister of Public Enterprises Lynne Brown has retained the current Eskom board, keeping under-fire interim chair Zethembe Khoza until the first board meeting next year.
It was widely expected that Brown would make big adjustments, but she opted to appoint only two new people.
Brown said her strategy is to recruit specialist business expertise to fill additional vacant board positions prior to the annual general meeting in June 2018.
The new Eskom board, approved by Cabinet this week, comprises Khoza, Dr Pat Naidoo, Giovanni Leonardi, Dr Pulane Molokwane, Simphiwe Dingaan, Dr Banothile Makhubela and Sathiaseelan Gounden. The two new board members are Professor Malegapuru Makgoba and Professor Tshepo Mongalo.
Makgoba is an internationally recognised public health advocate, and is the current Health Ombud of South Africa.
He is a former principal of the University of KwaZulu-Natal and is the current deputy chair of the National Planning Commission.
Makgoba is highly regarded as a transformation and ethics authority, and well versed in government policy, corporate governance and human resources.
Mongalo is a legal practitioner and academic, expert in company law and familiar with the environment within which state-owned companies operate. He served as vice-chairperson of the Department of Trade and Industry’s Specialist Committee on Company Law. His corporate financial law, business strategy, ethics and corporate governance skills are said to be invaluable to Eskom’s board.
Brown said an additional candidate, who has business strategy expertise and was approved by Cabinet, ultimately declined his nomination, citing the highly charged environment in which Eskom is operating.
She said this situation reflected the difficulty she had faced in putting together a strong board.
The new Eskom board will serve for the next three years. – News24
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