Eskom board to be announced on Friday

The Department of Public Enterprises will announce the names of the new Eskom board members on Friday‚ officials said on Thursday.

Communications minister Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane said during her post-cabinet briefing on Thursday morning that the names had been discussed during Wednesday's cabinet meeting‚ but would only be announced later on by the Department of Public Enterprises.

Colin Cruywagen‚ spokesman for Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown‚ said the announcement would be made by the end of business on Friday.

Brown was due to appoint a permanent board by the end of November to set about appointing a permanent CEO.

Kubayi-Ngubane said Brown had been present at the cabinet meeting‚ which took place from 8.30 to 9am on Wednesday‚ despite Brown having submitted a sick note to parliament last week indicating that she had been booked off until late December.

She submitted the same sick note to the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) on Wednesday when the committee was due to discuss issues around Transnet.

Cabinet also discussed the Integrated Resource Plan‚ which Kubayi-Ngubane said would be released by Energy Minister David Mahlobo soon. She said she understood that the announcement would be made during the Energy Indaba‚ which is currently under way.

Mahlobo hinted in a parliamentary meeting last month that the new energy mix might see a reduction in nuclear energy requirements.

"We are reviewing it (the IRP) because there’s a lower demand of energy because of the economic downturn. You can't say you need 9.6GW of nuclear when the economy is down‚" he said at the time.