Brown to reveal new Eskom board late on Friday

8th December 2017 By: News24Wire

 Brown to reveal new Eskom board late on Friday

Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown
Photo by: Duane Daws

Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown will reveal Eskom's new board on Friday.

Brown's spokesperson Colin Cruywagen said that the long-awaited announcement would be made by end of business on Friday.

Brown's original deadline, as determined by concerned financial institutions, was last week Thursday. But the deadline was pushed forward after last week's scheduled Cabinet briefing was moved to Wednesday. Cabinet has to approve the new board before Brown can make the announcement.

In July Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba gave an undertaking in his 14 confidence-boosting measures to kickstart the economy that Eskom would have a new board in place by November 30.

National Treasury deputy director general Anthony Julies also indicated earlier at a briefing of the mini budget that certain financial institutions had insisted that a new Eskom board be put in place by November 30, as a condition for rolling over existing loans.

Brown, who has been booked off sick, has been mum on whether the financial institutions have been engaged with about the delay, while Eskom also has not responded to questions about any interaction. Financial institutions contacted said they do not comment on client accounts.

It is widely expected that the minister will clean house, with many current board members getting the boot.

The Eskom board's reputation is at an all-time low after the parliamentary inquiry into state capture as several board members, including current chair Zethembe Khoza, were allegedly drawn into cloak and dagger dealings with the controversial Gupta family. Other members drew fire for not acting against the rot and turning a blind eye.

Khoza admitted to Parliament during the inquiry that the level of corporate governance at Eskom is very low.

The new board will have to hit the ground running in dealing with Eskom's liquidity challenges, plunging electricity sales and restoring trust in the eyes of the public.