The Eskom board says it strongly supports the suspension of its Tutuka and Kendal Power Station managers pending disciplinary inquiries.
The suspension was actioned by Group Chief Executive, André de Ruyter on Thursday morning. South Africans face power cuts as a result of continuous breakdowns at the utility.
In a statement, Eskom says further interventions are ongoing at the Kriel and Duvha power stations.
“Engagements have been held with other power station managers to ensure that the previous culture of weak consequence management will no longer be the norm and will no longer be tolerated at Eskom. The Executive has, in the meantime, deployed three senior Generation managers to the sites in question (Duvha, Kriel, Tutuka and Kendal power stations) to provide leadership and oversight in person,” says Eskom.
Eskom says there are 5 000 megawatts of capacity currently on planned maintenance and 10 950 megawatts on unplanned breakdowns.
“The Board and executives are fully cognisant of the substantial strain that load-shedding exerts on the wellbeing of citizens, on an already depressed economy and are committed to attaining sustainability and reliability of the Eskom generation plant. The Board and Executive Management have met twice in the past two days, with the Minister of Public Enterprises, Mr Pravin Gordhan, to interrogate the systemic causes of the load-shedding and the measures being taken to repair breakdowns,” says Eskom.
Eskom says following meetings with Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan, it was agreed that an urgent culture change and high-level competence enhancement across all 44 000 staff should be promoted and strongly supported.
ESKOM BOARD AND MANAGEMENT TAKE SWIFT ACTION IN AFTERMATH OF STAGE 4 LOADSHEDDING@News24 @SABCNews @NewzroomAfrika @eNCA pic.twitter.com/OLZltAKzbq
— Eskom Hld SOC Ltd (@Eskom_SA) September 4, 2020
Eskom power supply constraints under spotlight
