- The Group Chief Executive of South Africa’s energy utility Eskom, Mr André de Ruyter, has tendered his resignation.
“Mr De Ruyter has agreed to stay for an additional period beyond the stipulated 30-days’ notice to ensure continuity while we urgently embark on a search for his successor. His last day at Eskom will be 31 March 2023,” said Eskom Board Chairperson, Mpho Makwana.
In recent months, de Ruyter’s has come under public attack by Mineral Resources and Energy Minister, Gwede Mantashe. At a signing ceremony for legal close on 13 Bid Window 5 independent power projects last Thursday, the South African energy minister publically attacked Eskom and de Ruyter by saying that load shedding was becoming worse than state capture because of how it directly affects citizens and takes a toll on the economy. “Eskom, by not attending to load shedding, is actively agitating for the overthrow of the state”, Mantashe said. Read more
“It has been an honour and privilege to serve Eskom and South Africa. I wish all the hard working people of Eskom well,” said De Ruyter. The Eskom Board has confirmed that there is no plan for the Chairman to become an interim CEO and that a comprehensive executive search will be conducted to find a suitably qualified candidate.
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“On behalf of the Eskom Board, executive and the entire Eskom staff, I thank De Ruyter for his extraordinary service to the people of South Africa. I also thank De Ruyter’s family for supporting the Group Chief Executive during the tumultuous period,” concluded Makwana.
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Public Enterprises Minister, Pravin Gordhan stated that “André has carried an enormous burden on behalf of South Africa, I want to thank him for his sacrifice and resilience in a difficult job” He further added that all Eskom programmes will continue as business continuity is of primary importance for the country.
South Africa is in a spiralling energy crisis, rotational load shedding is getting worse and the cost to the economy is a massive R950 million a day.
The utility has been plagued by serious incidences of sabotage and failures plus unsustainable debt. The government now has plans to take on up to two thirds of Eskom’s staggering R400 billion debt. Read more
Yesterday a fire broke out at unit 6 Matla Power Station.
Image credit: PUTSAFIRST – Twitter
Loadshedding continues
Loadshedding will be reduced to Stage 4 starting from 05:00 tomorrow morning until 05:00 on Sunday morning. Thereafter Stage 3 loadshedding will be implemented on Sunday.
Since Tuesday morning, a unit each at Camden, Kriel, Majuba, Matla and Duvha power stations were taken offline for repairs and planned maintenance. In addition, the delay in returning to service a generating unit each at Arnot, Duvha and Hendrina power stations has contributed to the capacity constraints.
A generating unit each at Grootvlei, Camden, Kriel, Majuba power stations returned to service.
Of the 44000MW generation capacity, Eskom currently has 6 618MW on planned maintenance, while another 15 996MW of capacity is unavailable due to breakdowns.
Author: Bryan Groenendaal
