The appointments of Paul O'Flaherty as finance director, Dan Marokane as managing director of primary energy and Bhabhalazi Bulunga as managing director of human resources filled positions that have been vacant for many months.

Some, if not all, of these actions had been in the pipeline for some time, but the utility, bogged down in ennui and boardroom squabbles, seemed incapable of carrying them out.

The Kusile news, where the awarding of new contracts on the build project has been stalled, is positive in the sense that Eskom is acting to find ways to ensure it can meet its financial obligations, but negative in that it means further delays in the roll-out of badly needed new power capacity.

But at least someone in the Eskom building has woken up and started acting to make visible progress and assuage South Africans' suspicions that the lights are not on and nobody is at home - suspicions that seemed justified in the long news blackout while Maroga's position remained unclear.

• A recurring nuclear dream

Energy Minister Dipuo Peters remains remarkably optimistic about new power stations, saying SA could have a new-generation nuclear power generator up and running by 2020.

This is despite Eskom having cancelled its nuclear power plans at an advanced stage because of its funding conundrum.

The minister said on Friday that she would put a plan before cabinet early next year. The question is, who is going to pay for it?

• Do sweet nothing and the government money will roll in

As Grapevine expected, Armscor CEO Sipho Thomo, who was asked to leave but refused, has been suspended on full pay.

This sends out a message to all executives at public institutions: If you fail to reach agreement on your exit - that is, if you don't get the amount of money you demand - then simply refuse to go until you are suspended pending a lengthy investigation. You can then get full pay and benefits for months until the government completes its investigation and decides how to respond.

Thomo will be reassured by what happened to another Armscor employee - the general manager of corporate affairs, who made accusations against him and was put on paid leave for 14 months and in that time earned R1.2-million.

Thomo pocketed R3.3-million in the year to March and is no doubt in line for more this year.

Transnet executive Siyabonga Gama is also suspended, and if he and Thomo were clever they would pool their monthly income and start up a completely new business without having to put up a cent of their own.

• Don't publish - and still be damned

Avusa, the company that owns this newspaper, is a media group. This implies that one of its core principles is a free press, access to information and transparency.

On Friday Avusa presented its financial results to a select audience of 16 people. No journalists were invited.

Feedback from the meeting suggests that those who got the nod were not impressed with the scant information provided.

• No smoke but Remgro earnings still get burnt

REMGRO dropped a shocker late on Friday, saying earnings would drop 66%-70% in the six months to September due to the distribution of its investment in British American Tobacco to shareholders and poor results from the likes of FirstRand and RMB. Even without BAT, earnings will fall 35-39%.

kleinm@sundaytimes.co.za