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Cape Town - Eskom acting chief executive Collin Matjila is not interested in a permanent role to head the power utility, said chairperson Zola Tsotsi in a statement on Wednesday.
The process of appointing a new chief executive was still under way.
“The board is making good process with the appointment of a permanent CE and will commence interviews with potential candidates next week,” said Tsotsi.
Matjila, a board member, assumed the role of acting CEO to replace Brian Dames who left the parastatal after 26 years.
Eskom said the appointment of Matjila in his short-term role was the most effective and least disruptive solution.
“Matjila was a unanimous decision by the board, based on his deep knowledge of and experience in the South African electricity industry emanating from his previous role as chairperson of the National Energy Regulator of South Africa and from his current role as Eskom board member,” said Tsotsi.
Matjila relinquished all other Eskom board responsibilities and also stepped down as CEO of the Kopano ke Matla (KKM), which handles the investments of the Congress of SA Trade Unions.
As Eskom struggles to keep the country's lights on, it is spending more than R10bn on purchasing diesel to feed power to the grid via generators, the Afrikaanse Handelsinstituut (AHi) said last month.
Municipalities defaulting on payments also remain a challenge. Eskom was owed more than R2.3bn by various municipalities, civil rights organisation AfriForum said in March.
Spokesperson Tiaan Esterhuizen said in a statement at the time that Mpumalanga's municipal debt to Eskom was more than R800m, while municipalities in the Free State owed more than R570m.
Eskom imposed emergency blackouts early in March, for the first time since 2008, to prevent a collapse of the national power.
It said the grid had come under intense strain because of torrential rain in Mpumalanga, which had drenched coal supplies sitting outside power stations.
- Fin24 with agencies
The process of appointing a new chief executive was still under way.
“The board is making good process with the appointment of a permanent CE and will commence interviews with potential candidates next week,” said Tsotsi.
Matjila, a board member, assumed the role of acting CEO to replace Brian Dames who left the parastatal after 26 years.
Eskom said the appointment of Matjila in his short-term role was the most effective and least disruptive solution.
“Matjila was a unanimous decision by the board, based on his deep knowledge of and experience in the South African electricity industry emanating from his previous role as chairperson of the National Energy Regulator of South Africa and from his current role as Eskom board member,” said Tsotsi.
Matjila relinquished all other Eskom board responsibilities and also stepped down as CEO of the Kopano ke Matla (KKM), which handles the investments of the Congress of SA Trade Unions.
As Eskom struggles to keep the country's lights on, it is spending more than R10bn on purchasing diesel to feed power to the grid via generators, the Afrikaanse Handelsinstituut (AHi) said last month.
Municipalities defaulting on payments also remain a challenge. Eskom was owed more than R2.3bn by various municipalities, civil rights organisation AfriForum said in March.
Spokesperson Tiaan Esterhuizen said in a statement at the time that Mpumalanga's municipal debt to Eskom was more than R800m, while municipalities in the Free State owed more than R570m.
Eskom imposed emergency blackouts early in March, for the first time since 2008, to prevent a collapse of the national power.
It said the grid had come under intense strain because of torrential rain in Mpumalanga, which had drenched coal supplies sitting outside power stations.
- Fin24 with agencies
