CEO of South African Electricity Provider Eskom Resigns, Media Say
Eskom’s electricity pylons snake across a hill in a Johannesburg suburb
South Africa is struggling to meet growing energy demand. In late November, President Cyril Ramaphosa’s spokesman Vincent Magwenya said that measures were “underway” to end continuing power cuts.South African state power utility Eskom is in search for a new boss after CEO André de Ruyter resigned, according to a company statement cited by local media on Wednesday.
"I wish all the hard-working people of Eskom well," said the 11th head of the company to have left in a little more than a decade.
De Ruyter, who officially became Eskom’s CEO in January 2020, will stay in charge until March 31, while the company is looking for a replacement.A new board of directors was appointed at Eskom in September by South Africa’s cabinet. The board is led by Chairman Mpho Makwana who is supposed to review the performance of de Ruyter and the rest of the company’s management.South Africa is the continent’s most-industrialized country. In recent years, it has been facing power cuts which reached record highs this year, despite efforts by President Ramaphosa’s administration to reform the debt-burdened power utility. One of the causes of the problem is said to be the country’s reliance on aging coal energy plants. To tackle the shortages, diesel turbines were betaken.According to an earlier Eskom statement, it will not be able to order more diesel until April 2023 due to a lack of funds. This resulted in load shedding in the country, with the currently scheduled energy cuts reaching stage 6, which involves removing 6,000 megawatts from the grid.Recently, Escom initiated the construction of South Africa’s first battery energy storage facility as part of the company’s efforts to tackle the crisis.
