Eskom appoints four executives to prepare for a competitive marketplace

Eskom has appointed the first four of seven executives to address its business challenges and to deliver strategic initiatives to enable growth and long-term sustainability. 

The new appointees will take up their posts on November 1. They are corporate services executive Portia Mngomezulu, strategy and sustainability executive Nontokozo Hadebe, group capital executive Roman Crookes and chief information and technology officer Len de Villiers. 

“Eskom recognised that it needs to bring in new skills at the executive level to guide its teams so [they] can execute strategic initiatives in a competitive market faster, more efficiently and in areas which are new to the utility,” said Marokane.

He said in just five months, Eskom had filled critical positions.

“We must now more than ever remain focused on delivery and changing the way we do things ... to the benefit of our customers who will increasingly have a choice of energy providers as the market reforms.

“It is our intention to remain a critical player in South Africa’s evolving future energy market, and we will move at pace to recover lost ground,” said Marokane.

Mngomezulu is a corporate services executive with more than 28 years of experience, including more than a decade in senior leadership roles in the public sector.

“She has demonstrated a strong ability to revitalise public entities and achieve financial stability.” 

Eskom said Hadebe has 23 years experience in strategy development, corporate planning, performance management and strategic initiatives management.

“Her expertise lies in long-term organisational strategy development and implementation.”

The power utility said Crookes brings more than 23 years of experience in the power industry.

“Most recently, he successfully completed the construction and commissioning of the GNPD power plant in the Philippines, comprising two critical 725MW units.” 

Before this, he served as project director of the Medupi power plant project. 

De Villiers, who has been appointed on a three-year contract, has more than 40 years of experience in IT and is considered one of the top chief information officers in South Africa. 

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