Eskom Suspends Power Station Chiefs After Stage 4 Loadshedding

Eskom today said two station chiefs had been suspended after Stage 4 loadshedding this week was responded to with “apathetic behaviour,” and said that urgent culture change at the utility had to be accelerated.

The managers of the Tutuka and Kendal power stations were summarily suspended pending disciplinary enquiries, Eskom said in a statement. It also said “further interventions” were going on at the Kriel and Duvha power stations. The CEO Andre de Ruyter and board of Eskom have met with Public Enterpises Minister Pravin Gordhan twice over the past few days to discuss the systemic causes of loadshedding and measures being taken to repair the system.

“While it is true that the aging fleet is plagued by legacy issues of neglect and omitted maintenance and is therefore susceptible to unpredictable breakdowns, it is also true that the situation is exacerbated by serious issues of apathetic behaviour of some management staff.”

It was agreed in the meetings with Gordhan that “an urgent culture change and high-level competence enhancement across all 44,000 staff,” which CEO Andre de Ruyter started when he took over Eskom in January, should be accelerated.

Eskom said meetings had also been held with other station managers “to ensure that the previous culture of weak consequence management will not longer be the norm and will no longer be tolerated.” In the meantime, three senior generation managers had been deployed to the four stations to provide leadership and oversight.