South Africa will name a chief executive officer for beleaguered power utility Eskom by the end of the year, Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan said.

Eskom has been without a full-time head for more than seven months, while freight company Transnet’s CEO said she will leave end of October. Finding the new head for Transnet will take longer, Gordhan said.

“Both the entities will have CEOs shortly,” Gordhan said in an interview with Bloomberg TV. “Finding the right person is a difficult challenge in the southern African context.”

Africa’s most-industrialised nation has been struggling in its bid to revive the two State monopolies. Incessant power outages implemented by Eskom and Transnet’s inability to run rail operations at capacity impairs mineral exports and has roiled the $406-billion economy.

Inefficiencies at Transnet may have cost the country R150-billion in exports last year, according to the Minerals Council. Glencore and Seriti Resources over the past two weeks have started talks to cut hundreds of jobs in the country as their ability to export coal is stymied.