The National Union of Mineworkers(NUM) says the intention behind the appointment of Andre de Ruyter as the new Eskom CEO is to help in the un-bundling of the power utility.
De Ruyter will take over the cash strapped power utility from the 15th of January.
He holds an LLB and MBA and currently is NAMPAK’s CEO.
The Public Enterprises Ministry says the appointment follows an exhaustive recruitment process.
NUM’s energy sector coordinator, Paris Mashego, has raised questions over De Ruyter’s experience in the industry, saying he does not have engineering skills to help build Eskom.
He says they appointed a person with legal skills, not someone with engineering skills and Eskom is an engineering company.
“So the intention here is not to save Eskom. It is to un-bundle and privatise Eskom and that requires a person with a legal mind. So the appointment is about that and nothing else.”
“I mean the CEO alone cannot change Eskom, you need a different board with a different mentality. The board that has been appointed since January last year is one that has businessmen and businesswomen. They don’t know anything and are clueless when it comes to a power station, they know nothing,” says Mashego.
Independent Energy Expert, Ted Blom has also slammed De Ruyter’s appointment as he isn’t in possession of an engineering qualification. Blom says the Eskom board should not have been responsible for appointing the new CEO.
“Its been quite a surprise because he is not one of the contenders that was nominated over the last couple of weeks. I have my reservation, although he has a very impressive track record, he doesn’t have an engineering qualification and I would have thought that the problems at Eskom require an Engineer. You’ve got an incompetent board making up requirements for a CEO, that’s a recipe for disaster.”
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