Mteto Nyati’s future as Eskom chair uncertain as term nears end
· Citizen
Mteto Nyati’s term as chair of the Eskom board, which has been largely praised for fading the electricity crisis, expires at the end of October. And there is uncertainty about his continuity at the power utility.
In a candid interview with Moneyweb on Wednesday, Nyati declined to say whether he would remain at the power utility – adding that a potential extension of his term is something that has “not been put in front of me”.
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Decisions on extending Nyati’s term or reshuffling the Eskom board rest with Cabinet.
Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, who oversees Eskom’s governance as the shareholder representative, may recommend or support a particular outcome. But the final decision is not his alone.
At Eskom’s results presentation in August, Ramokgopa indicated that it would be his preference for Nyati’s term to be extended, and praised him for the role he played in stabilising the power utility.
Asked if he would be available to stay on if Ramokgopa requested him to do so, Nyati was coy, saying he ordinarily has other commitments, among them, being executive chair of BSG, a consulting company “that still needs me”.
“Besides this, up to this point, I’m very satisfied with what I’ve done for Eskom and the country,” he says.
Succession planning
Nyati is emphatic that succession planning remains strong at Eskom and that skills have been rebuilt at the power utility.
Whether he remains or leaves, Nyati says Eskom will be able to continue the implementation of reforms that he and his board colleagues started nearly four years ago.
“I’ve always been deliberate about building skills options in all organisations I work with. We did the same at Eskom. Under Dan Marokane [Eskom Group CEO], we have appointed the best people who will take this company forward,” said Nyati, underscoring that 70% of people who are part of Marokane’s executive committee are new.
“Almost all of the organisations that I’ve worked for – none of them have failed when I left. They’ve all continued to perform.
“The reason they don’t fail is because of the succession planning in place,” says Nyati, who was previously CEO of MTN SA and Altron.
Ending load shedding
When Nyati was first appointed to the board of Eskom in October 2022, blackouts were part of daily life, which worsened SA’s economic stagnation.
Today, the energy crisis has faded, Eskom is profitable, and its power stations are performing better.
Underscoring the latter is that Eskom’s energy availability factor (EAF) has hovered above 65%, which seemed impossible to achieve as it had languished below 53% for most of 2023. A higher EAF indicates that Eskom’s power stations are performing well.
Nyati, Marokane and the rest of management drove a focused Generation Recovery Plan targeting six problematic power stations and improved their maintenance.
They appointed Bheki Nxumalo to lead Generation. He reshuffled managers, restored staff incentives and improved morale.
The government provided crucial debt relief (R230 billion) and exempted Eskom from localisation rules in procuring parts for power stations in need of repair.
All of these efforts, including SA’s liberalisation of energy generation, contributed to the end of blackouts.
Nyati said there are two areas that still require reform: helping Eskom embrace renewable energy sources through its subsidiary, Eskom Green, and reducing the power utility’s debt stock, which reached R356.2 billion in the year to end-March 2026.
Unbundling the transmission business
A contentious and outstanding reform is the unbundling of Eskom and the transfer of its transmission assets (high-voltage lines and transformers) to an independent operator, enabling a competitive wholesale electricity market where multiple electricity generators compete to drive down prices through market discovery rather than regulated pricing.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has endorsed this plan, but Nyati’s concern (and that of his board colleagues) was to protect the financial sustainability of Eskom after any transfer of assets.
The transmission business is the backbone of the electricity grid and generates stable income for Eskom, which charges customers fees for using the grid.
If that business is moved out of Eskom, it would lose a steady cash flow, impacting its ability to pay lenders and potentially triggering defaults.
Nyati says that after meeting with Ramaphosa two weeks ago, the Eskom board is aligned with the president on the plan.
He is encouraged that National Treasury and the Development Bank of Southern Africa are seeking to appoint transaction advisors that will help handle this “complex” transfer, ensuring that it is “carefully considered”.
This article was republished from Moneyweb. Read the original here.