It’s expected that newly appointed Eskom board chairperson, Mpho Makwana, will step in as CEO following the reported resignation of Andre de Ruyter from that position.

News 24 reports that de Ruyter had notified Makwana of his decision earlier this week.

This message was then relayed to Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan.

de Ruyter had assumed his position in December 2019 and has been widely criticised for Eskom’s performance as the country experiences several bouts of intense load shedding.

But this year has been one of the harshest in terms of black outs.

South Africa entered its third consecutive month of load shedding this December, with Stage 5 becoming the norm.

Meanwhile, the ANC’s National Executive Committee had reportedly discussed de Ruyter’s performance and future as Eskom CEO this past weekend.

However, some party leaders argued that it was improper for the ANC to discuss de Ruyter’s fate.

One member reportedly said that it may come back to bite the ANC if the NEC discussed de Ruyter’s firing, and he was then dismissed.

Some insiders reportedly told News 24 that there had been a push for de Ruyter to be replaced with someone who has “relevant qualifications in the engineering field”.