There’s no escaping the story regarding the leadership debacle at ESKOM what with every media covering the developments. Since the story is so topical I’ve found it necessary to make my own comment. Let me say that the Board of Directors of Eskom under the previous Chairman, Mohammed Valli Moosa, should never have appointed Jacob Maroga as Eskom CEO. As an insider and up to the point at which he was appointed CEO, Mr Maroga was part of the executive team which for a long time failed to steer ESKOM in the right direction, so it was always going to be difficult for him to make a real difference as CEO. The current Board would be well advised to appoint a complete outsider to replace Mr. Maroga, that is if the news that Maroga has resigned indeed turn out to be true. So where should the ESKOM Board look to find the new CEO? Well one of the first places to look would be at former Anglo American executives. You may be aware that recently Anglo announced a restructuring which resulted in some really capable people such as Ian Cockrell leaving the organization. Other Anglo executives left months ago, soon after Cynthia Carroll was appointed CEO. These former Anglo executives are seasoned professionals who should be able to do a great job in turning around the fortunes of ESKOM. The beauty about Ian Cockrell is that he used to run the coal division at Anglo and coal as we know is a very critical raw material for ESKOM in the generation of electricity. So imagine a CEO who has an intimate understanding of the inner workings of coal mining and the coal industry in general. Whether it’s Cockrell or someone else, ESKOM needs an outsider CEO, someone who can look at the problems facing the state enterprise from a different and new perspective. ESKOM is one situation where appointing someone from within would be a mistake that the Board and the South African public simply cannot afford.
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