New Eskom CEO needs to be engineer, urges business sector
The president of the National Society of Black Engineers Mdu Mlaba says the sector remains available to guide Eskom and Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan on the appointment of a new CEO at the struggling utility.
Mlaba was addressing the business sector on the sidelines of the ANC national conference on Sunday,where Minister of Energy Gwede Mantashe was expected to deliver an address on the energy security.
Mantashe who is also the ANC's national chairperson, failed to show up following a long night of presiding over the nomination processes for the top seven leaders.
Discussions by the forum came in the wake of the resignation of André de Ruyter as CEO of Eskom.
The business sector believes the embattled utility should be led by a qualified engineer who can find the solution for depleting generation capacity.
Mlaba says the engineering sector is willing to recommend the right candidate for the role.
“The focus, in order to improve the energy availability factor that’s currently sitting at just over 50%, is to deal with the auxiliary plant and if the board appoint a CEO that is an engineer, a competent engineer that has actually worked for years as a practicing engineer and is recognised by the Engineering Council of South Africa.
“That is the calibre of engineer that we need to see appointed at Eskom to get us out of the mess that we find ourselves in.
“And as the NSBE we make ourselves available to give guidance to the board and the Minister of Public Enterprises [Pravin Gordhan] to identify a candidate that is competent to run Eskom.”
Mantashe is now set to address the business sector on the energy crisis early in the new year.
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