By: Natasha Archary

Eskom Chairperson, Mteto Nyati joins Gugulethu Mfuphi on Kaya Biz to discuss the criteria that was used to appoint new CEO, Dan Marokane.
Nyati who was a member of the Eskom Board, shares that he also Chaired an important committee within the state-owned entity called the Business Operations Performance Committee of the Board.
This meant, as Chairperson Nyati was part of the team that was tasked to find a new CEO.
“There were over 400 applicants to go through, you would think the position wasn’t going to be popular but it was.
But, a number of those applications were removed because they did not qualify.
What we were looking for was someone who has technical knowledge and has an engineering background.
A Business Degree was second on the list of criteria for the new Eskom CEO, such as an MBA. The ideal candidate had to have an ability to demonstrate that they were capable of working in turnaround situations, and lastly it’s all about people.
At the end of the day, you may be a great leader, but if you cannot connect, inspire or drive the employees of Eskom, we’re not going to go anywhere.
Lastly, we are in an environment where there has been corruption, fraud, state capture, so we needed someone who can demonstrate that he or she can deal with issues of corruption.
So when we put all of this criteria on the table there were only a few people who emerged out of the selection process and Dan ultimately became the leading candidate.
Three candiates were then handed over to government to finalize the process, and Dan was the preferred candidate.”
Eskom Chairperson Mteto Nyati discusses the criteria used to appoint new CEO, Dan Marokane
The new Eskom CEO has experience working in distressed organisations with visible and pressurized turnaround mandates.
He was recently assigned at Tongaat-Hullet, where he stepped in to lead this financially distressed business when its Group Chief Executive resigned.
Marokane was a senior manager at Eskom from 2010 to 2015, and has held various senior positions, including Head of Group Capital.
Listen to the conversation on Kaya Biz:
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