Andre de Ruyter has been appointed head of Eskom. He takes over after months of speculation about who would replace Phakamani Hadebe, who resigned in July.
Here are four things you need to know about De Ruyter:
Corporate experience
De Ruyter's appointment was met with scepticism by some members of the public and politicians, who cited his lack of SOE managerial experience as a concern. He was the CEO of packaging company Nampak, a position he held from March 2014.
Qualifications
De Ruyter has a bachelor's degree from the University of Pretoria, a master of business administration from the Nyenrode Business Universiteit in the Netherlands and a master of laws degree from the University of SA (Unisa), according to Bloomberg.
Selection process
De Ruyter was one of 142 candidates for the Eskom position, eight of whom were employees of the power utility. Public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan said after extensive interviews, all ministers agreed on Ruyter's appointment.
“The final interview process was undertaken, after which the panel ranked three candidates from six. After further interviews, a list of three candidates with the indication of a preferred candidate was submitted to the shareholder in terms of the memorandum of incorporation (MOI) between Eskom and the government.”
Top team
De Ruyter will lead Eskom with CFO Calib Cassim, COO Jan Oberholzer and heads of generation, transmission and distribution Bheki Nxumalo, Segomoco Scheppers and Monde Bala.
