Eskom chair Mteto Nyati says he agrees with Energy and Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa that Eskom’s performance in early 2025 has been disappointing.
After a significant improvement in generation capacity and a sharp drop in load shedding during 2024, South Africa has seen seven days of load shedding so far this year.
On Wednesday, Ramokgopa slated Eskom for “dropping the ball” following recent maintenance incidents and increased unplanned breakages.
Speaking to Moneyweb on Thursday on the sidelines of an investment conference in Cape Town where he was the keynote speaker, Nyati said Ramokgopa’s assessment is correct.
“The minister is right. When we did the analysis of certain areas, we found we could have done things better.
“What I like about my relationship with the minister is that we have open and honest discussions,” he said.
“We have to have these frank conversations, but they are linked to being constructive.
“Instead of beating about the bush, we need to name things for what they are. We have the same kind of relationship with our management, as well. When we are not happy, we can express it. We know what we are capable of – we cannot go back. So, we want people [at Eskom] to maintain that level of performance.”
Nyati told delegates at the annual Actuarial Society of South Africa conference how he came to chair South Africa’s beleaguered power utility.
He received a call from President Cyril Ramaphosa late one night during a particularly intensive bout of load shedding. “He said: ‘This is your president speaking’, and I immediately realised it had something to do with Eskom.”
Nyati was appointed as Eskom board chair in October 2023.
He praised the current Eskom management for the successful turnaround over the past year.
“We managed to assemble a capable group of people coming from the corporate environment, as well as Eskom engineers, nuclear scientists, power station general managers – all people with a deep understanding of a culture change.”
‘Not the next ambassador to the US’
Since the diplomatic relations between South Africa and the United States soured following Donald Trump’s inauguration in January, Nyati has been actively voicing calls for calm and rationality on social media platform X.
He recently warned that it would be a significant setback if South Africa lost its benefits under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa).
Agoa expires at the end of September, and there is a real risk that South Africa will no longer enjoy duty-free access to the US market. This will have a particularly devastating effect on South Africa’s motor vehicle manufacturing industry, especially after Trump’s announcement that he would impose a 25% tariff on all auto imports to the US from 2 April.
Said Nyati on X: “Our struggling economy cannot afford to lose AGOA. The South Africa automotive and agricultural sectors depend on it. This reality must inform our strategic choices going forward. We need cool heads.”
Nyati also weighed in when Ebrahim Rasool was expelled from the US and declared persona non grata by the Trump administration.
“Our responsibility as leaders is to address SA’s social challenges. SA’s non-aligned policy makes sense. Our actions have to be guided by national interests. As leaders, we must rise above the current tit for tat noise and seek to do the right things, right,” he noted on X.
Asked whether he might be the next ambassador to the US, Nyati laughed and said: “No, I’m not.”
