Eskom board will struggle to secure Andre De Ruyter’s successor – expert

As Eskom is still searching for outgoing CEO Andre De Ruyter’s replacement, an expert believes the power utility will struggle to get one.

Dr. John Wentzel, who is the CEO of listed recruitment giant Adcorp, argues that one of the challenges facing Eskom is the timing of De Ruyter’s resignation.

De Ruyter resigned at the beginning of this month and his last day is December 31 – his resignation coincided with the festive holiday season.

“The second thing that Eskom sits with, unfortunately, is the reputation that it has [developed] over the last decade,” says Wentzel, adding that many head-hunting firms have closed.

In the past 10 years, the struggling power utility has seen 10 CEOs come and go including current board chair Mpho Makwana, Phakamani Hadebe, Sean Maritz, and Jabu Mabuza.

Moneyweb reports that Eskom’s high executive turnover has tarnished the beleaguered entity and is off-putting for potential CEOs.

Eskom is also battling to attract critical engineering and power generation skills and while it faces an uncertain future Wentzel said it may take them longer to identify candidates, and that’s just going to delay the process.

“I think they are going to face a challenge, because of what’s happened, in finding candidates who are putting their hands – unless the state of course already has some candidates in mind,” he added.

“Eskom was always a great company to work for, and it can be a great company to work for again.

“But what [it] really needs to do now is bring stability into its leadership … it needs to bring certainty into its decision making.”

Typically, appointments to C-suite positions at state-owned entities may take up to three months, excluding the notice period the elected candidate may have to serve.

As part of the recruitment process, it is mentioned that the Eskom board appoints a recruitment firm, a mandate is issued, and the preferred candidate is then tabled for the related minister to approve.