Eskom board asks CEO Maroga to resign

The board of Eskom has asked the company’s chief executive officer Jacob Maroga to resign after a troubled tenure marked by power shortages, Business Day reported on Friday.

Andrew Etzinger, a spokesperson for the power firm said he could not confirm the newspaper report, but confirmed that an Eskom board meeting had been held on Thursday.

“I don’t know if it’s true or not, I have no information on the story at this stage,” he told Reuters.

The utility has been rationing electricity since early 2008 when the national grid nearly collapsed, forcing mines and smelters to shut and costing South Africa billions of dollars.

Eskom has also been widely criticised for fuelling inflation after it was granted a tariff increase of 31,3% this year and 27% last year, but the state-owned utility insists it needs to increase prices to pay for its expansion.

The utility has asked the energy regulator to raise electricity tariffs by 45% annually for three years starting next year, to help the power firm fund the expansion of its generation capacity to meet fast rising demand. - Reuters