Gordhan says Eskom CEO will be appointed by year-end

The minister of public enterprises, Pravin Gordhan has revealed that the state be naming a CEO for beleaguered power utility Eskom by the end of the year.

For more than seven months, Eskom has been operating without a full-time head, while freight company Transnet’s CEO said she will be leaving at the end of October. Gordhan said finding the new head for Transnet will take longer.

“Both the entities will have CEOs shortly,” Gordhan said in an interview with Bloomberg TV. “Finding the right person is a difficult challenge in the Southern African context.”

The South African government has been having troubles in its bid to revive the two state monopolies. Incessant power outages implemented by Eskom and Transnet’s inability to run rail operations at capacity impairs mineral exports and has roiled the economy.

The troubles at Transnet may have cost the country R150-billion in exports last year, according to the Minerals Council. Glencore and Seriti Resources over the past two weeks have started talks to cut hundreds of jobs in the country as their ability to export coal is stymied.