POLL | Eskom gets new CEO, but can the utility be saved?

Public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan announced on Monday that a new CEO had been appointed for the debt-crippled power utility Eskom. Andre de Ruyter is the current CEO of the JSE-listed packaging company Nampak, and will officially take over at Eskom on January 15 2020.

De Ruyter will take over just weeks after the power utility implemented power cuts due to breakdowns, ageing infrastructure and its “constrained” system. As things stand, the state-owned company has a debt of about R450bn, and is owed R632m by Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Zambia, TimesLIVE reported.

A month ago, politicians debated the Special Appropriation Bill which allowed finance minister Tito Mboweni to give the embattled power utility another lifeline, this time R59bn.

Mboweni acknowledged that the billions of rands in bailouts would not save Eskom, and cited change in leadership as one measure that could be taken to help the situation.