- The Eskom Board is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr Dan Marokane as the new Group Chief Executive of Eskom.
- Eskom has been without a GCE since February 2023 when Andre De Ruyter left the utility after exposing the widespread corruption in the organisation which he said involved senior government officials. Read more
- Mr. Marokane is, a qualified Chemical Engineer who has an MBA and a seasoned executive with more than 20 years senior leadership experience.
- He will join Eskom no later than 31 March 2024.
Eskom is the state run and state owned energy utiltiy in South Africa which has been plagued by poor planning, corruption, fraud, theft and sabotage. Marokane is the 12th CEO appointed at Eskom in the last 14 years. The utility has unsustainable debt of R23.9 billion and has relied on hundreds of R billions in tax payer bailouts to survive over the last 10 years. Read more
Mr Marokane returns to Eskom after he and three other senior executives were suspended following an ethical stand they took against state capture, fraud and corruption.
He has experience working in distressed organisations with visible and pressurised turnaround mandates. His recent assignment is at Tongaat-Hulett where he stepped up to lead this financially distressed business when its Chief Executive Officer resigned.
According to Mteto Nyati, Chairman of the Eskom Board, the appointment of Marokane follows a long, rigorous and meticulous recruitment process. The Eskom Board embarked on a global search for a suitable candidate with the necessary leadership, experience and business orientation with a solid track record in the energy sector.
“Dan has experience in managing complex strategic, operational and commercial turnaround across the private and public sectors. He also has in-depth knowledge of the Eskom environment. He leads from the front. He will hit the ground running. That is what Eskom and South Africa need right now,” added Nyati.
“We are delighted to have him on board and are confident that he, the executive committee and the Board will work well together in rebuilding an Eskom of tomorrow that is anchored on high performance culture,” concluded Nyati.
The Shareholder has been an integral part of the recruitment process. To ensure compliance with Eskom’s Memorandum of Incorporation, the Shareholder had to ask the Eskom Board to go back to the drawing board until it found three appointable candidates. Eskom thanks the Minister of Public Enterprises for his counsel, and for placing the appointment of the GCE top of the agenda.
“It is an honour to be chosen to lead Eskom at this critical juncture in its history. I look forward to working with the leadership team, Eskom Board, the Shareholder and other key stakeholders to accelerate implementation of the Generation Recovery Plan, the creation of transmission capacity as well as other critical Eskom priorities and chart a path to a sustainable future for Eskom. If it is to be, it is up to us,” said Marokane.
Eskom is a state-owned entity. Its mandate is to assist in lowering the cost of doing business in South Africa, enabling economic growth and providing stability of electricity supply, through providing electricity in an efficient and sustainable manner. Its guiding principle is to deliver on the turnaround programme to address immediate operational and financial challenges to put the company on a sustainable path with the focus on aligning its decisions with the evolution of the industry and the Just Energy Transition.
Author: Bryan Groenendaal
