Board appointed for National Transmission Company

The Eskom board took an important step in the entity’s unbundling when it appointed the board of directors for the National Transmission Company of South Africa (NTCSA) this week.

The separation is a key component of the Eskom Turnaround Plan outlined in the department of public enterprises’ roadmap for Eskom in a reformed electricity supply industry. The transmission division is the first of Eskom’s three divisions to achieve legal separation.

“The appointment of the NTCSA board takes Eskom a step closer to unlocking the potential that comes with the planned transformation of the electricity industry,” Mteto Nyati, Eskom board chairperson, says.

The chairperson of the NTCSA is Priscillah Mabelane, currently vice president for energy business at Sasol. She is a qualified chartered accountant, with experience in leadership, corporate finance, strategy, energy, and risk.

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Wide range of expertise on National Transmission Company board

The other board members:

• Dr Brian Armstrong is the lead independent director. He is regarded as one of the foremost information and communication technology industry leaders in South Africa and is professor in the Chair of Digital Business at the Wits Business School. He was group chief operating officer and group chief commercial officer of Telkom.
• Lungile Mashele is an energy economist, an award-winning energy professional and banker with more than 12 years of energy industry experience in Africa. She is an energy and infrastructure specialist at the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) and has also worked as an energy economist and specialist at Eskom and the Development Bank of South Africa.
• Carmen Le Grange was the chief financial officer of Denel. She is a qualified chartered accountant, with 22 years of experience in auditing and consulting and was a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers.
• Anu Sing has worked as an engineer, investment banker and in telecommunications and spent five years with the MTN Group where she was group executive for business intelligence, group executive for strategic business operations and general manager for passive Infrastructure. Her qualifications include an MBA and a BSc in mechanical engineering.
• Nkosinathi Solomon holds an MBA and a BSc in chemical engineering. He has experience in leading transforming organisations and his competencies include strategy formulations, people change management and is an experienced board member.
• Professor Mark Swilling was the chairperson of the Development Bank of South Africa until September 2023. He is the co-director of the Centre for Sustainability Transitions at Stellenbosch University. His published research was coupled to major institution-building collaborations, an achievement that was recognised in 2010 when he was awarded the Aspen Faculty Pioneer Award for success in introducing sustainability into leadership education.

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• Auke Lont is highly regarded internationally in the transmission system operator environment. He was the CEO of Norway’s Statnett and understands the South African electricity market reform context. He has more than 25 years’ experience in the energy industry and holds a master of economics from Vrije University in Amsterdam.
• Prof. Francis Petersen is the rector and vice-chancellor of the University of the Free State and previously deputy vice-chancellor of the University of Cape Town, dean of engineering and the built environment at the University of Cape Town, executive head for strategy at Anglo American Platinum. He holds B.Eng. (Chem), M. Eng (Metal) and Ph.D. (Eng) degrees.
• Sedzani Mudau is the executive director of Favest Advisory Pty Ltd, chairperson of the board of Sentech and a non-executive director of Ellies Holdings. She is a qualified chartered accountant and a registered Auditor and has an MBA from the University of Witwatersrand.
• Dr Busisiwe Vilakazi holds a DPhil in engineering science from the University of Oxford. She is the head of research and Innovation at SITA and a former senior researcher at the CSIR. She is a non-executive director on the Eskom board.
• Tryphosa Ramano is a chartered accountant and holds a bachelor’s degree in commerce (BCom) and postgraduate diploma in accounting and finance. She worked as chief financial officer in various companies and is a non-executive director on the Eskom board.

The NTCSA has already been registered and received the necessary licences from the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa).