---
title: "Dan Marokane expected to be appointed as new Eskom CEO"
description: "Dan Marokane is expected to be appointed as the new chief executive officer of state power utility Eskom Holdings after an almost yearlong search for a candidate, according to people familiar with the decision."
type: "NewsArticle"
publisher: "Daily Maverick"
site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za"
section: "POWER CRISIS"
author: "Bloomberg"
author_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/author/bloomberg/"
canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2023-12-07-sa-set-to-pick-dan-marokane-as-new-eskom-ceo/"
published: "2023-12-07T17:48:40"
updated: "2023-12-07T21:29:47"
lang: "en-ZA"
word_count: 372
---

# Dan Marokane expected to be appointed as new Eskom CEO

> Dan Marokane is expected to be appointed as the new chief executive officer of state power utility Eskom Holdings after an almost yearlong search for a candidate, according to people familiar with the decision.

By Bloomberg · Published 7 December 2023, 19:48 SAST · Updated 7 December 2023, 23:29 SAST

## Key points
- Despite a revolving door of top executives, Eskom's crisis continues to deepen, with blackouts and job losses adding to the political woes of South Africa's ruling ANC.
- Eskom's new CEO appointment is pending finalisation by the shareholder.
- South African elections next year may be affected by the energy crisis.
- Companies are cutting jobs to cope with blackouts and inefficiencies at state-run logistics firm.
- Former MTN Group Ltd executive Mteto Nyati has replaced Mpho Makwana as chairman of Eskom.

## Content

The company’s failure to boost generation from its old and poorly maintained power plants has led to nationwide electricity outages — implemented to prevent a total collapse of the grid. The worsening situation has weighed on a process to fill the top job at Eskom, which has had 14 leaders since 2007.

“The process is with the shareholder to finalise and make the decision,” said Eskom spokesperson Daphne Mokwena. She referred further questions to the government, which hasn’t made any formal announcement on the appointment.

Ellis Mnyandu, a spokesperson for the Department of Public Enterprises, declined to comment.

Marokane, who previously served as Eskom’s head of group capital and is currently CEO of troubled sugar producer Tongaat Hulett, will have to begin the process of reviving the foundering utility months before South Africa votes in national elections.

The energy crisis — the central bank has said that rolling blackouts may have reduced the economic growth rate by as much as 3.2 percentage points last year — may in part result in the governing ANC see its support slip to as low at 45% next year, according to one [survey](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-10-26/south-africa-s-ruling-anc-sees-support-slip-to-45-in-survey).

Companies — reeling from rolling blackouts and inefficiencies at the state-run logistics firm — have been [slashing](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-11-28/arcelormittal-to-cut-3-500-jobs-in-south-africa-as-growth-slows) jobs to keep costs under control.

- [Severe Blackouts Return to South Africa as Power Plants Fail](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-11-24/eskom-returns-to-severe-loadshedding-due-to-capacity-shortage)
- [Transnet Needs More Than a Plan to Fix South Africa’s Logistics](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-11-24/transnet-needs-more-than-a-plan-to-fix-south-africa-s-logistics)
- [South Africans Are Going Green to Escape Incessant Power Cuts](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-11-09/south-africans-are-going-green-to-escape-incessant-power-cuts)

André de Ruyter said he would resign as CEO in December last year and quit the beleaguered company following a television interview in which he said that Eskom was losing about R1-billion a month to corruption and theft that could be connected to government officials and politicians. Calib Cassim, the company’s chief financial officer, has been the interim head since De Ruyter left.

In September, the search for De Ruyter’s successor raised tension between the board of Eskom — which reported a R23.9-billion [net loss](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-10-31/eskom-loss-widens-to-1-2-billion-after-record-s-africa-outages) for the past financial year — and Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan, who oversees the company.

A month later, Mpho Makwana resigned as chairman of Eskom. He was [replaced](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-10-09/south-africa-s-eskom-chairman-mpho-makwana-steps-down) by Mteto Nyati, a former MTN Group executive and ex-chief executive officer of Altron.