Eskom’s reconfigured executive management, largely attributed with the turnaround of the power producer’s operational performance, boasted a combined 205 years of experience working for the utility by the end of the 2024 financial year, the company’s latest annual report shows.
Group CEO Dan Marokane, who will have had five years’ experience with the company in May, had announced a new executive committee structure to “address existing business challenges and futureproof Eskom to enable growth and long-term sustainability”.
The 2024 annual report shows the executive team is packed with Eskom veterans, many of whom have been with the company for more than 25 years — challenging the current management to develop the next layer of leadership, with many of them in their mid to late 50s.
Group head of generation Bheki Nxumalo has 27 years’ experience with the Megawatt Park-based group, while CFO Calib Cassim has been with the entity for 22 years. Head of transmission Segomoco Scheppers has served Eskom for 30 years.
Head of distribution Monde Bala has worked for the utility for the past 27 years, while chief procurement officer Ainthree Sankar has been on Eskom’s payroll for 30 years.
Other long-serving members of the executive committee include Elsie Pule, the group head of human resources who has been with the power producer for 26 years, and Natasha Sithole, acting group executive for government and regulatory affairs, who has been with the entity for 31 years.
Only three of the 11-strong executive committee have served Eskom for less than five years.
“The new executive committee structure includes a combination of existing and new roles to enable the responsive decision making required to deliver on our strategic initiatives and navigate the rapidly changing environment in which we operate, including focusing on the expansion of Eskom’s renewable energy portfolio in line with our just energy transition strategy,” the annual report reads.
“The structure focuses on the execution of our legal separation activities and the necessary adaptations for the future generation, transmission and distribution subsidiaries.”
Eskom, which has more than 40,000 employees, has over the years been plagued by leadership instability, reporting a high turnover of CEOs.
Marokane was appointed group CEO in March 2024, a period that coincided with the suspension of load-shedding.
Nxumalo was appointed a year earlier as Eskom head of generation and is largely credited with improving the energy availability factors at most of the group’s power stations.
“Our people are critical to successfully achieving our mandate and strategic objectives. If the turnaround is going to succeed, we need a skilled workforce, as well as appropriate levels of leadership and other critical and scarce skills,” Marokane said in his letter to stakeholders published in the annual report.
“We are identifying skills gaps and then closing those gaps by training our people, maintaining a diversified learner pipeline and enabling talent development opportunities, as well as recruiting where necessary to supplement skills.
“We also need to retain the talent that we have and recognise and reward their efforts in an appropriate manner. We are reintroducing an incentive scheme in the 2025 financial year to do just that, with financial performance being the gatekeeper for the scheme and financial affordability one of the key determinants of the bonus pool.”
Eskom chair Mteto Nyati hailed late public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan and energy minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa for the role they played in stabilising Eskom.
“A special word of appreciation goes to the late minister Pravin Gordhan for his strategic guidance and unwavering support to restore Eskom’s performance after taking over as minister of public enterprises early in 2018.
“It is truly regrettable that he did not get to enjoy a well-deserved retirement after a distinguished career serving our country,” Nyati said in the annual report.
“We will continue to honour his legacy as we rebuild a high-performing, ethical Eskom. Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa continues to play a pivotal role, not only in the improvement of Eskom, but also in the advancement of the broader energy landscape.
“The minister is one of those rare leaders who always gives credit to the team when things are going right. When things go pear-shaped, as they often do, he takes personal responsibility.
“In my book, that is servant leadership. It is the kind of leadership we desperately need in all sectors of our society if we are to overcome the challenges our country is facing.”
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