The four men behind Eskom’s turnaround 

Eskom’s turnaround has been driven by improved maintenance of its coal-fired power stations, making them more reliable and ensuring the utility consistently exceeds demand for electricity. 

This has been driven by Eskom’s new leadership team and overhauled management of its power stations. 

Eskom chairman Mteto Nyati told Foord Asset Management in a recent webinar that the utility’s fundamental problem had to do with its people. 

“From far, when I looked at the problems at Eskom before becoming chairman, at the core of it, I thought was the people, and poor maintenance was just a symptom,” Nyati said. 

“When the new board got in there, the prevailing view from management was that the issue at Eskom was its old power stations, and the answer was to retire the fleet and allow the private sector to help generation through renewables.” 

During his first two weeks as Eskom chairman, Nyati led engagements with management at the utility beyond its executive team, led by Andre de Ruyter. 

The government gave the board space to engage deeply with Eskom’s issues to gain a full understanding of its systemic issues and how they could be addressed. 

“We did a deep dive on power station performance, talking to power station managers about what was going wrong. We needed to hear what was happening on the ground from the people who were doing the work.” 

At this time, Eskom was plagued by operational issues. Poor maintenance often resulted in units tripping soon after returning to service, leading to extremely volatile and unpredictable performance. 

Thus, the stages of load-shedding implemented had wild swings, with the country suddenly being plunged into stage 6 at seemingly random times. 

Nyati said the engagements with power station managers were very insightful and revealed that the problems at Eskom had been misdiagnosed. 

“These issues were more fundamental. For example, we have leaders there who are not leading at all levels. We have managers that are not managing.” 

“People were sick and tired, saying, ‘We need to follow standard operating procedures, and things are not being followed’. That is because we had the wrong people employed in certain roles,” Nyati explained. 

“You need to have people who get it and understand what is going on. You need people who can pick up that feedback from employees at the plants, make sure it is accurate, and then hold people accountable.” 

“When you have got leadership that cannot communicate clearly and just accepts whatever feedback comes from below, that is a problem. So, we had to change leadership within this company.” 

The men who turned it around 

Four men have helped to stop load-shedding for five months by improving Eskom’s performance – Mteto Nyati, Bheki Nxumalo, Calib Cassim, and Dan Marokane.

These individuals have been responsible for implementing Eskom’s Generation Recovery Plan and overhauling its management teams. 

Aside from shaking up Eskom’s leadership, these men have also managed to execute this plan. 

“You can have a plan, but if you do not implement it, then it is useless. That is a big problem in South Africa. We dream, but we can never execute,” Nyati said. 

The problem was not simply a lack of maintenance previously but also the poor quality of the repairs done on Eskom’s units, resulting in many tripping soon after returning to service. 

Nyati said that maintenance is now conducted alongside OEMs rather than middlemen to ensure that when the units are returned, they are reliable and almost as good as new. 

He also explained that, despite claims from former Eskom executives, the utility is fixable, and the current management team is proving that. 

“I heard some people saying you cannot fix Eskom. There is no such thing. You know, there are people who are unable to think that certain things can be done.”

“They must not stand in front of the people who are doing those things, which is what we are exactly doing.”

The four men below drove this turnaround and are behind Eskom’s efforts to keep load-shedding at bay. 

Eskom chairman Mteto Nyati

Nyati began his tenure as Eskom chair on 1 November 2023 and drove the new board’s engagements with power station managers and employees to create a turnaround plan. 

Speaking to Foord, Nyati said he was initially reluctant to take on a job at Eskom and feared that he would not be able to make a difference at the utility. 

Despite his extensive background as a mechanical engineer and experience running large businesses in South Africa, Nyati said he refused to become Eskom CEO. 

He managed to convince President Ramaphosa that he would be better placed to serve Eskom as its chairman and drive its strategy. 

Nyati has extensive experience in turning businesses around, winning the EY World Entrepreneur Award Southern Africa for his turnaround of Altron in 2021. 

Altron is a large information and communication technology company that was heavily indebted before Nyati took over at its helm in 2017. 

He developed the One Altron strategy to reinvent the company, EY said. Altron shifted its focus to cloud computing, data analytics, cybersecurity, and the internet of things. 

Similar to Eskom’s current turnaround plan, Nyati ensured Altron’s employees were on board with its strategy and had input on how the company could shift its trajectory. 

This open leadership style encouraged a new, more transparent culture that motivated employees and, in turn, improved the company’s direction.

In 2019, he received the ‘Business Leader of the Year’ award at the All Africa Business Leaders Awards. 

In the same year, the University of Johannesburg’s College of Business and Economics awarded Mteto an honorary doctorate in IT Management. 

Eskom CEO Dan Marokane

Eskom’s performance under new chief executive Dan Marokane has improved dramatically, with fewer breakdowns and a much higher energy availability factor.

Marokane, a qualified chemical and petroleum engineer who previously served as a group executive at the power utility, took over on 1 March 2024 and replaced acting CEO Calib Cassim. 

He continued the good work under Cassim’s leadership. Breakdowns are lower, maintenance has improved, and Eskom’s EAF is rising rapidly.

Marokane previously served as chairman of Eskom Enterprises, director of Eskom Rotek Industries, and chief commercial officer of Eskom Holdings.

Before rejoining Eskom, he served as the chief executive officer at Tongaat-Hulett, where he helped build a strategy to save the company.

He has led operations across the oil, gas, energy and manufacturing sectors, overseeing procurement budgets of over R100 billion and capex budgets of R60 billion annually.

He holds a BSc in Chemical Engineering from the University of Cape Town (UCT), an MSc in Petroleum Engineering from the University of London, and an MBA from UCT. 

When he was appointed, the Eskom board asked Marokane to prioritise assessing the Generation Operational Recovery Plan in his first 100 days in office.

Eskom initiated the plan in March 2023, focussing on accelerating and executing planned maintenance.

Eskom’s head of generation Bheki Nxumalo

Bheki Nxumalo was appointed Eskom’s group executive for generation in April 2023. He has extensive experience in operations, power station management, and production.

Nxumalo has been at Eskom since 2010 and has been working in the energy sector for over two decades. 

Before entering his current role, he was Eskom Enterprise and Eskom Rotek Industries CEO and served as station manager at two power plants.

Less than a year after he was appointed, Eskom saw a significant performance improvement and a prolonged break in load-shedding.

Nyati singled out Nxumalo as the main person helping to address Eskom’s generation challenges and stop load-shedding.

After appointing Bheki Nxumalo as head of generation, Eskom “replaced some of the power-station managers who were clearly in the wrong roles”, he said. 

He estimated that around 40% to 45% of managers were changed. 

“Now you have a team which is going to build the culture that you are looking for. A culture of accountability. A culture of discipline.”

“I literally grew up in Eskom. I strongly believe that Eskom has the technical and managerial capability to turn things around,” Nxumalo told MyBroadband.

“The majority of Eskom employees are passionate about their work and company. I know that I can count on the support of my colleagues in Exco and the new Eskom board to make this a reality.”

Eskom CFO Calib Cassim 

Calib Cassim has been overlooked in Eskom’s turnaround story, providing stability at the utility following Andre de Ruyter’s departure in early 2023. 

Under his leadership, Eskom stabilised its declining energy availability factor and started to improve towards the end of his tenure. It was the first improvement in five years.

South Africa got through the 2023 winter months better than expected, with lower-than-planned demand and improved generating capacity.

When he handed the reins to Dan Marokane, the power utility was on an upward trajectory thanks to the implementation of the recovery plan. 

Cassim is now back in his former role as CFO, overseeing all aspects of the company’s financial strategy. 

He is a qualified chartered accountant and holds a master’s degree in business leadership (MBL). 

In his previous role as the General Manager for Financial Planning and Economic Regulation, he was responsible for the application of electricity prices to Nersa.