Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan has appointed a new board for Eskom.

Gordhan met with the directors of Eskom on Tuesday to inform them he would “restructure and reconstitute” the board, and thanked them for their service.

Gordhan told MPs on Wednesday that the future of Eskom CEO André de Ruyter and other top executives would be determined by the new board, which will conduct a thorough review of their performance.

Asked by MPs whether he would be introducing new skills to the board, particularly skills in electrical engineering, Gordhan confirmed that there would be a “new set of skills”.

These are the new board members:

• Mpho Makwana is the new chair – he previously served as an acting Eskom CEO and was described by Gordhan as a casualty of the state capture era.
• Busisiwe Vilakazi has a BPhil in engineering science from Oxford University. She’s head of research innovation at SITA.
• Lwazi Goqwana has a background in manufacturing, construction, financial services, logistics, and energy. He previously worked in the dept of roads and public works and is CEP at ISG. Since 2019 – 2021 he was on the ministerial task team improvements & recommendations for Eskom.
• Mthetho Nyathi has a degree in mechanical engineering and was chief executive of MTN SA. He served in IBM and Microsoft for many years, as well as group CEO at Altron.
• Leslie Mkhabela is an attorney, experienced in the restructuring of state-owned assets. She was involved in the attempted establishment of EBI Holdings. She is “familiar with some of the issues confronted in that process”, Gordhan said.
• Fatima Ghani is a chartered accountant operating within financial sector in various capacities, as well as in businesses that have operated in the middle east and across the African continent.
• Ayanda Mafuleka is a chartered accountant and CEO of Fasset, with experience implementing strategic direction that SETA has set. Mafukela is also the former CEO of the national credit regulator.
• Tsakani Mthombeni is a “young person but an old timer in energy”, with experience in mining giants Gold Fields and Anglo American. In the former, Mthombeni’s role was ensuring mining operations across four continents adapt to climate change; at Anglo American, he was a senior engineer.
• Claudelle von Eck is a change management expert. Tryphosa Romano is a chartered accountant whose experience includes overseeing the assets and liabilities of National Treasury and being CFO at PPC.
• Bheki Ntshalintshali was previously general secretary of Cosatu.
• Clive le Roux was chief nuclear officer at Eskom, having had key roles at Koeberg and Matimba. Le Roux has been helping Eskom in the last ten years but is now retired. He was a member of the team of experienced engineers familiar with the Eskom plant.
• Rod Crompton is director of the Energy Leadership Centre at Wits Business School. He has experience in policy, strategy and economic regulation in the energy sector.