A look at Eskom's leadership challenges: 10 CEOs in 10 years
- Eskom has had 10 CEOs in the last 10 years
- Some of them held the position for as little as five months
- The current acting CEO, Jabu Mabuza, will be in charge of finding his successor
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Following the resignation of Phakamani Hadebe in May, Jabu Mabuza is the 10th Eskom CEO in as many years.
Mabuza was appointed as acting CEO this week by Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan.
He will remain in the position for the next three months while a replacement is found.
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Mabuza will take over what might be the most demanding job in government short of the presidency. Hadebe, for example, said that the job of Eskom CEO placed "unimaginable demands" on him and that it was actually having a negative effect on his health. This was why he decided to resign, Briefly.co.za has gathered.
Over the last decade, 10 CEOS have helmed Eskom to varying degrees of success. The first of these was Mpho Makwana, who served in acting capacity from November 2009 to June 2010. While Makwana's time at the SOE was short, he was generally praised for the keeping load-shedding at bay during during the FIFA World Cup, according to Fin24.
Makwana was followed by Brian Dames, who held the post until 2014. Dames also had a relatively successful stint at the power utility, with few power outages in the years he held the job.
Things would take a turn for the worse with Dames's successor, Colin Matjila. Matjila served for less than year but was accused of engaging in corrupt practices to benefit Gupta-linked companies.
READ ALSO: Eskom dishing out huge salaries to execs despite R20 billion loss
The next CEO, Tshediso Matona, would only hold the position for roughly six months. Brian Molefe would follow, and then Matshela Koko, both of whom would later be accused of corruption and maladministration.
Johnny Dladla and Sean Maritz would then head up the utility, respectively, until Hadebe's tenure. Dladla has been credited with looking into dodgy deals, while Maritz has faced some questions about contracts he signed off on.
What's for certain is that Mabuza has a tough task ahead of him and, if history is a guide, Eskom's problems will outlast them, as they have his predecessors.
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Source: Briefly News
