Eskom crisis: ‘We shouldn’t have undue expectations of a saviour coming along’

Outgoing Eskom chief executive André de Ruyter yesterday fired back at Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy Gwede Mantashe, with accusations he was a policeman “chasing criminals” with no idea of the challenges Eskom faced.

“Fraud, corruption, sabotage and other criminal conduct have taken root within Eskom and unless we take decisive action to eradicate this type of conduct, it will continue to fester and see the downfall of Eskom with catastrophic impacts to South Africa,” De Ruyter said.

“With the support of ENSafrica, we are conducting a full assessment of the crime risk management landscape within Eskom, including combating bribery and corruption, financial crime, physical assets crime, cybercrime and anti-money laundering.

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“The intent is that once this assessment is concluded, a crime risk management programme will be embedded as part of Eskom’s standard operating procedures to manage this critical risk.”

While not directly naming Mantashe, De Ruyter did not mince his words.

“While crime remains such a significant part of our landscape, we will have to play the role of policeman because of failures in our law enforcement to bring these perpetrators to book and to particularly conduct appropriate intelligence operations to prevent crime happening in the first instance,” he said.

Many, including Mantashe, have called for someone with “technical experience” to head up the ailing utility.

Director at Virtual Energy and Power and independent energy analyst Clyde Mallinson said it was irrelevant.

“If you had the world’s best engineer and you could move them to Eskom, I would want to put them onto the engineering problem, Mallinson said.

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“I wouldn’t want them tied up with board meetings and running the corporation and trying to boost the morale. It just doesn’t make sense.”

He noted it did not actually matter what their profession was, the incoming CEO needed to be someone who would make sure they had the right people in place who could act on the needs of their departments.

To find someone with the “omnicompetence of De Ruyter would be extremely difficult”.

De Ruyter will remain CEO until the end of March. Until then, its board will be on the hunt for the next CEO in a recruitment process that looks set to confront several challenges, including the timing of De Ruyter’s resignation and Eskom’s reputation.

Dr John Wentzel, CEO of listed recruitment giant Adcorp, said his resignation coincided with the festive season, when many head-hunting firms had closed.

“The second thing Eskom sits with, unfortunately, is the reputation that it has [developed] over the last decade,” says Wentzel.

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Eskom has had 10 CEOs in the past 10 years, including Phakamani Hadebe, Sean Maritz, Jabu Mabuza and current board chair Mpho Makwana.

De Ruyter has faced many detractors in his three years at the helm, among them the Black Business Council, the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa and the general public.

A week before he tendered his resignation, Mantashe launched an attack on Eskom – effectively its CEO – saying the power utility was attempting to overthrow the government by failing to end load shedding.

EE Business Intelligence managing director Chris Yelland said suitable candidates may view the position as a poisoned chalice, given expectations such as stabilising its finances and operations, which have been critical for many years.

“There’s no way we can expect a miraculous saviour to solve all our problems. We shouldn’t have undue expectations of a saviour coming along,” Yelland said.

He believed it could take six months or longer to find a replacement, saying individuals with the right credibility would come with a long list of conditions.

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“They will want cast-iron guarantees they can implement what they need to, irrespective of the political populism and constraints that have been seen in the past.”

– amandaw@citizen.co.za

– Additional reporting Ntando Thukwana, Moneyweb.