Hiring Delayed for New Eskom CEO After Age Dispute of Potential Candidates

Paul Richardson, Bloomberg News

Eskom , Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- The appointment of a new chief executive officer at Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. has been delayed by a dispute over the age of the prospective candidates, Business Day reported, citing a letter from Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan to the South African power utility’s chairman.

The board should consider candidates over the age of 60, after excluding them in its effort to fill the position, the Johannesburg-based newspaper cited Gordhan as saying. The minister also criticized the board for only recommending one candidate, instead of a shortlist of three as required under Eskom’s memorandum of incorporation and guidelines for the appointment of CEOs at state-owned entities, it said.

The board recommended Dan Marokane, the former head of group capital at Eskom, for the position, the paper said.

Eskom Sees Grid Stability Improving Before 2024 (Sept. 27, 4:17 p.m.)

Eskom expects to reduce electricity outages before the end of the year as it anticipates less energy demand because of warmer summer weather.

The company plans to limit outages to Stage 4 — in which 4,000 megawatts is removed from the grid in order to prevent a total blackout — in the coming months, executives said at a briefing Wednesday.

Read More: Eskom Sees South Africa’s Grid Stability Improving Before 2024

Eight Electrocuted in Western Cape Province Flooding (Sept. 26, 11:14 a.m.)

Eight people died after being electrocuted during flooding in South Africa’s Western Cape province.

“Four people died in an informal settlement, because of illegal electricity connections,” City of Cape Town Disaster Management spokeswoman Charlotte Powell told state-owned broadcaster SAfm radio station on Tuesday. “We had a similar incident where four children also died also due to illegal connections in the Klipfontein area.”

Torrential rain that has fallen over Cape Town and other southwestern towns over the past two days have caused widespread damage.

--With assistance from Paul Burkhardt, S'thembile Cele and Loni Prinsloo.