Pravin Gordhan announces new lineup of full 13-member Eskom board — with some expertise

The government has announced a shake-up of the Eskom board, replacing its chair and appointing 13 non-executive directors who collectively bring engineering, energy policy and delivery, and accounting expertise. 

Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan, with the support of his Cabinet colleagues, made sweeping changes to the Eskom board as the government has faced intense criticism from business leaders and opposition political parties for nearly three straight weeks of rolling blackouts.

Gordhan and his Cabinet has also confirmed that there will be no changes in Eskom’s executive leadership comprising CEO André de Ruyter, chief financial officer Calib Cassim, and chief operations officer Jan Oberholzer.  The trio will remain in charge of the power utility’s day-to-day operations. 

Read more in Daily Maverick: 'The collapse of old king coal: Eskom’s short but brutal road to ruin'

Gordhan has mostly replaced the entire Eskom board but has retained one non-executive director to allow for continuity. Gordhan has retained Dr Rod Crompton, an expert in policy on energy, who will be part of the new Eskom board. 

Professor Malegapuru Makgoba, the previous Eskom board chair, who is a qualified and experienced immunologist and physician, has been replaced by Mpho Makwana, who returns to the power utility. 

Makwana was the acting CEO of Eskom from 2009 and 2010, leading the power utility’s team that kept the lights on during the 2010 Fifa World Cup.  Gordhan has described him as “a casualty of the State Capture era”.

After his short stint as Eskom’s acting CEO, Makwana went to the private sector, working for companies including Nedbank, ArcelorMittal South Africa, Invicta Holdings, BTE Renewables and Platinum Group Metals. 

Makwana becomes Eskom’s ninth board chair in 15 years, and the new board brings the tally of non-executive directors on it to more than 60 over the same period.  

Eskom, which can have a maximum of 13 non-executive directors, has operated for nearly three years with only six individuals, who have drawn scrutiny for their lack of engineering expertise. 

When asked why it has taken so long to appoint a board and fill vacancies, Gordhan said during a press briefing on Friday 30 September, “We can dwell on the past... but a decision has been taken now and there is a new board in place.”

For the first time since 2018, all 13 vacancies on the Eskom board have been filled. Of the 13 non-executive directors on the new Eskom board, five have experience in the field of engineering, energy policy and electricity delivery.

• Mpho Makwana is the new Eskom board chair.


• Busisiwe Vilakazi, who holds a BPhil in engineering science from Oxford University. She’s the head of research innovation at the State Information Technology Agency.


• Lwazi Goqwana has a background in manufacturing, construction, financial services, logistics, and energy. He previously worked in the Department of Public Works. From 2019 to 2021, he was on the ministerial task team improvements and recommendations for Eskom.


• Mthetho Nyathi has a degree in mechanical engineering and was chief executive of MTN SA. He served in IBM and Microsoft, as well as group CEO at Altron.


• Leslie Mkhabela is an attorney, experienced in the restructuring of state-owned assets.


• Fatima Ghani is a chartered accountant operating within the financial sector in various capacities, as well as in businesses that have operated in the middle east and across the African continent.


• Ayanda Mafuleka is a chartered accountant and CEO of Fasset, a Sector Education and Training Authority for the finance, accounting, and management consulting sectors.


• Tsakani Mthombeni has experience working for mining giants Gold Fields and Anglo American. A senior engineer, Mthombeni was responsible for ensuring that Anglo’s mining operations adapted to climate change.


• Claudelle von Eck is a change management expert.


• Tryphosa Romano is a chartered accountant whose experience includes overseeing the assets and liabilities of National Treasury and being CFO at cement company PPC.


• Bheki Ntshalintshali is a trade unionist and previously the general secretary of Cosatu.


• Clive le Roux was chief nuclear officer at Eskom, having had key roles at Koeberg and Matimba. Le Roux has been helping Eskom in the last ten years but is now retired. He was a member of the team of experienced engineers familiar with the Eskom plant.


• Rod Crompton is director of the Energy Leadership Centre at Wits Business School. He has experience in policy, strategy and economic regulation in the energy sector.

I am relieved & heartened that we are not seeing some of the noisy, populist, discredited, former Eskom executives, acting CEOs & CEOs, including the criminally implicated tweeting engineer, being appointed to the Eskom board. Instead the appointments are respected professionals.

— Chris Yelland (@chrisyelland) September 30, 2022