Eskom has a new head of generation

State-owned power utility Eskom on Friday announced that it has appointed business leader Bheki Nxumalo as its new head of generation, a role that Nxumalo will take up immediately.

According to the utility, Nxumalo’s experience in the energy sector, spanning over two decades, together with his experience working at Eskom in various roles including as the CEO of Enterprise and Eskom Rotek Industries, the power station manager of two of Eskom’s power stations and general manager of Kusile Power Station, makes him a good fit for the role.

Read all our Eskom coverage here.

Calib Cassim, the acting group CEO, noted that the utility believes the new appointee will “passionately” lead the execution of the utility’s generation recovery plan.

“We have been searching for the Group Executive Generation for a while now. It has been very difficult to find a suitable candidate that would hit the ground running,” Cassim said.

“The generation recovery plan is in full swing. We needed someone that would passionately drive the execution of [the] recovery plan while inspiring staff to reach beyond their reach. Recently, it occurred to us that our candidate was hidden in plain sight. That leader is Bheki Nxumalo.”

Read: SA should not shy away from costs of fixing power crisis – Ramokgopa

There is still hope for Eskom 

Commenting on his appointment, Nxumalo says he believes that the struggling utility still has the tools to right its ship.

“I am truly honoured to be asked to lead Eskom Generation at this critical time. I literally grew up in Eskom. I strongly believe that Eskom has the technical and managerial capability to turn things around,” Nxumalo said.

“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 the exco and the new Eskom board to make this a reality.”

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