NOT long after Malusi Gigaba replaced Barbara Hogan as minister of public enterprises just more than four years ago, the new minister threw out all but two of Eskom’s board members and appointed a new chairman, Zola Tsotsi, and a set of new directors, most of whom had little experience of business and none of electricity.Hogan had a more conventional, hands-off notion of corporate governance — in which the shareholder appoints the board, gives it a clear mandate and lets it get on with its role of overseeing the company.In turn, earlier Eskom boards, which included international and local directors with experience in running electricity utilities as well as in fields such as finance and human resources, had a clearer view of their role. The management, not the board, is meant to run the company. The directors are meant to oversee and provide direction and guidance — not to manage, much less to meddle.But with Gigaba’s appointments those notions of the role of board and directors beg...
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