No obvious choices for CEO within the Eskom ranks
Two possible candidates on the executive team have a lot of experience but both have strengths and weaknesses
Eskom’s 96-year history is replete with former CEOs who rose from within SA’s debt-laden state utility to run the company. There are few obvious choices for the next CEO to come from those same ranks. Two possible candidates from Eskom’s executive team to replace Phakamani Hadebe have strengths but also weaknesses. CFO Calib Cassim is a chartered accountant who has worked at Eskom for 17 years, yet he has little technical expertise. COO Jan Oberholzer, who has held a range of jobs during 25 years at the power utility, may not have the financial experience to steady its shaky finances. The new CEO will need political clout and connections to navigate Eskom’s complex relationship with the government, which plans to break the utility into three units. The state has also been reticent to give it the money Eskom says it needs to remain solvent, or the go-ahead to fire excess staff. “Generally, when a company is in a mess, you appoint a CEO from outside,” Jannie Rossouw, head of th...
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