(3 minutes read)
The government of South Africa announced the appointment of Dan Marokane as the next CEO of the state-owned company ESKOM which has even imposed up to twelve-hour long blackouts this year.
The government of South Africa announced the appointment of Dan Marokane as the next CEO of the state-owned company ESKOM which has even imposed up to twelve-hour long blackouts this year. ESKOM has been without a permanent CEO for nearly ten months since Andre de Ruyter’s immediate resignation, leading to Eskom’s Chief Financial Officer Calib Cassim taking temporary leadership.
For more than a decade, the heavily indebted corporation has faced difficulties in maintaining operations in the most developed economy in Africa. Since 2008, the state-owned utility has introduced daily scheduled power outages to protect the grid when demand exceeds supply.
Since the beginning of 2023, these blackouts have intensified, with regular blackouts lasting up to 12 hours a day. However, the situation has improved since the summer, and power outages have been reduced to about two hours a day.
The South African government is helping the company deal with the crisis. Back in August, President Cyril Ramaphosa stated that the administration is actively increasing energy generation across the country, which will solve South Africa’s energy crisis by 2024.
In November, the South African government passed the ESKOM Debt Relief Amendment Bill to ensure that the utility pays interest on amounts advanced as loans and to reduce claims against Eskom if conditions are not met.
Read Also:
https://trendsnafrica.com/sa-treasury-extends-deadline-for-eskom-municipal-debt-write-off/
https://trendsnafrica.com/is-light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel-for-eskom/
https://trendsnafrica.com/eskom-suspends-power-cuts-due-to-improved-availability/
South Africa’s Minister of Electricity Ramokgopa revealed that his country is seeking assistance from Russia to find a technical solution to power outages. Moreover, in October, the Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom stated that Russian-built floating nuclear power plants could contribute to Africa’s reliable and safe electricity supply.