Reference no: EM133037948

About Eskom

"Eskom is a South African electricity public utility, established in 1923 as the Electricity Supply Commission (ESCOM) and also known by its Afrikaans name Elektrisiteitsvoorsieningskommissie (EVKOM), by the government of the Union of South Africa in terms of the Electricity Act (1922). Eskom represents South Africa in the Southern African Power Pool. The utility is the largest producer of electricity in Africa, is among the top seven utilities in the world in terms of generation capacity and among the top nine in terms of sales. It is the largest of South Africa's state-owned enterprises. Eskom operates a number of notable power stations, including Medupi Power Station in Lephalale, Kusile Power Station in Witbank, Kendal Power Station, and Koeberg nuclear power station in the Western Cape Province, the only nuclear power plant in Africa. The company has also appointed Andre de Ruyter as the new CEO, this comes after months of deliberations."

Eskom current state of affairs

"It is late in the day, but there is, at last, an energetic focus from government and other players on finding a solution to Eskom's problems. There is finally a general consensus that the power utility - once regarded as the country's greatest state asset - will drag the economy down with it should it continue its epic slide to bankruptcy.Can the government finally fix the Eskom problem? To make this judgment, it is necessary to appreciate five home truths. From this, an equal number of unavoidable key decisions have to be taken, without which Eskom (and likely South Africa's short-term economy) is doomed.

1. Eskom is the key to the economy - the first home truth is that Eskom is costing the economy a vast amount of money.2. The risks are growing - what the events of the first quarter suggest is that the risk of the system falling over is higher than ever as the reserve margin - the electricity generating units held in reserve to manage a crisis on the grid - decreases.

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Page 4 of 73. Eskom is a cap on growth - but all these plans will come to naught if there is insufficient energy available to companies to expand production or to establish new businesses. This risk of an invisible "power cap" on the economy may be the single biggest factor holding back investment.

4. Poor technical capacity - Eskom is in the deep hole it is in now because it did not have the internal capacity to manage the two massive build programmes for the Medupi and Kusile power stations. New builds, especially those on this scale, require financing skills, engineers with expertise in build management, contracting and the nitty-gritty of power station construction. Eskom lost these skills during the 1990s and 2000s.5. Splitting up Eskom is not going to solve the problem - South Africa has finally decided it will follow global best practice by splitting Eskom into generation, transmission and distribution." 

Appointment of a new CEO "Parliament, Wednesday, 20 November 2019 - The Portfolio Committee on Public Enterprises has welcomed the appointment of the new Eskom CEO, Mr Andre de Ruyter.Committee Chairperson Mr Khaya Magaxa said the appointment will bring stability to the power utility, and address some of its governance and financial challenges.

Mr Magaxa said the committee will continue to provide effective oversight at Eskom, as the new CEO has a challenging mandate ahead. "His role is a difficult one, as he needs to undertake the unbundling and restructuring of the entity and address load shedding."Whilst there has been a lot of criticism in the media on this new appointment, what is important is to support Eskom, as it plays an important role in South Africa's economy."

In an essay format, discuss contemporary approaches to leadership AND recommend to Eskom CEO the leadership approach that will work best for him considering the challenges he and Eskom face. Justify your recommendation.

• Your answer should be a minimum of 1 200 to a maximum of 1 500 words (two to three pages). Markers are to stop marking after the threshold of 1 500 words has been reached. Please indicate the word count at the end your answer.
• An essay requires a clear introduction and conclusion, use of paragraphs, headings, sub-headings and academic tone.
• Use correct in-text referencing and include sources in the main bibliography at the end of the assignment.
• Use relevant theory from your textbook and additional credible sources.