This is the news of the day: The Eskom CEO they wanted to fire, Jacob Maroga, is back at his desk. The Chairman of the Board that wanted to fire him, Bobby Godsell, has resigned, along with a non-executive member of the board, and been replaced by one Mpho Makwana, who has marketing experience.

It is clear to any reasonable person that these moves are due to Government interference, and represent a major breach of corporate governance. Eskom has become disfunctional.
Observers and organizations including the Government’s Independent Development Corporation are agreed that South Africa’s investment image will be seriously tarnished.

That is the news, well described as the first rough draft of history. This is how it started last Thursday, one o’clock and press conference time, with Bobby Godsell due to announce what the heck is going on at Eskom and who is to be appointed CEO.

Well, that’s one o’ clock African time. It transpires that Bobby has to go somewhere else in a hurry, cell phones are out, people disperse and the questions dribble away to unimaginative speculation, because there’s not much space in the week-end press. That’s pretty much booked for heavy breathing as the Joost van der Westhuizen sex saga continues. I can see now how he enjoyed the Springboks’ Kamp Staalgraad bonding drill in the mud. Gee, they could have made money out of that.

But back to the bit about Eskom and South Africa’s future. Hot news as I write this Monday is that CEO Jacob Maroga remains in office in spite of the board’s request, backed by Godsell, that he resign.

All of our State Enterprises are in a tax-draining mess, and clearly incompetence and corruption are causally involved. I would draw the conclusion that one or the other was the reason for Maroga’s planned departure. It is rumoured that contract irregularities were at issue. This would beg the question of Maroga’s recent performance bonus hike from R4m to R5m, defended by Godsell on the grounds that such remuneration is necessary to keep the right people …

Tax payers are accustomed by now to being patted on the head by this kind of diplomacy, sweetening a high profile dismissal. But you have to be careful. No resignation has been produced and ANC spokesman Malema, for example, has been quick to see it in racist terms as an attempt to turn opinion against Maroga, portraying him as greedy.

The latest from my wife - my radio being off while one station is on chatter and SABC current affairs is focused on traffic fines – is that Bobby Godsell has resigned as Escom chairman. My congratulations, Bobby. I had begun to wonder where have all the good men gone, and am now left to wonder about that honourable woman, State Enterprises Minister Barbara Hogan.

In the whole of this sorry saga she has been supportive of him and the board, while rumours and denials continued that she was resisting pressure from President Zuma. His weak leadership over a bitterly divided party becomes magnified through this scandal. When in doubt, dither, is the modus operandi, but it is difficult not to predict the outcome now of action pending against suspended Transnet CEO Syabonga Game, already long overdue. Here again, Hogan has so far steadfastly supported the board’s wish for him to go, again for reasons undisclosed and unlikely to be.

The Polekwane pressure that won the day for Maroga prominently included Constitutional Affairs Minister Jeff Radebe (once State Enterprises) and Communications Minister Siphiwe Nyanda (formerly Defence).


As celebrations around the world commemorate the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall (erected to stop East Berliners from fleeing to the West, not vice versa) it is interesting to note that Radebe was educated in East Germany, where it is unlikely that he was steeped in democracy.

Rob Rose (“Uncategorized”, 4 Jan 2004) writes that the man who did most to spark the first raft of blackouts that swept the country about that time was Radebe, as State Enterprises Minister. “It was he who twiddled his thumbs rather than approving Eskom’s pleas to start building more power generation plants… According to the Financial Mail, no less than five urgent memos landed on his desk at that time”.

It is true that power corrupts, says Rose, but unreliable power corrupts all hope of hitting growth targets.

Siphiwe Nyanda, who believes that luxury cars are necessary tools for Ministers to do their job, has had several business interests in security companies and an arms brokerage firm, and is a long-time supporter of Zuma. Well, in many circles, favours don’t go unrewarded. But considering the hopeless communication at Eskom, perhaps he shouldn’t give up his day job.

Talk Show host John Maytham mentioned this early evening that there had not been much reaction from listeners today, via e-mail, text message or telephone, regarding the Eskom affair; and he wondered why. Well John I think for the same reason as a good newspaper died today – The Weekender. South Africans can’t handle serious news anymore and have learned to live without it and settle for political correctness.

They choose to ignore the blatant racism involved as expressed most honestly by Malema, but endorsed more subtly by the Black Business Forum in terms of “transformation”. My fellow citizens, black and white, are not very modest but have much to be modest about and are more racially divided than ever.