Godsell sticks by Eskom resignation

Bobby, old boy old pal, I can see you are not too keen to play second fiddle. The writing is on the wall, he can see it, and as such has jumped ship. Hey, anybody would do the same thing. I am shitting myself for who gets awarded this position.

Zuma must take the blame for Eskom losing Godsell. He was the one that failed to back him when Maroga resigned, and it was because he owed political favours. Godsell did the right thing. The South African should take responsibility for electing a president who woes so many people political favours.

How I wish Bobby Godsell can reconsider and come back to ESKOM. I don't know what reason other people support Jacob Maroga for but, the man has not done anything but misery for everybody during his term of office.

If he claims, like Mr. Sipho H. Thomo of DENEL claims, that he has done nothing wrong, then I would say he has done nothing right either.

Last week I said Barbara Hogan should resign and if she did not she should be fired. See Zapiro's cartoon on the subject. I also said that seeing as she has not yet been fired, she had been given a second chance and she should not screw it.

Now she actually expected Godsell to return to Eskom. That is not what happens in the civilised, well-governed world. A person of his stature thinks very carefully before he resigns and does not then do a Maroga, even by invitation. For Barbara Hogan to even suggest that she might invite him back shows how naieve and unsuited to her position she is.

I look at the high level vacancies in the para-statals and shake my head. Unforgiveable!! It seems to me that President Zuma is asleep at the wheel.

It is a loss to Eskom and the country that Mr Godsell has resigned. He could not be expected to do an about turn on his decision - he had thought things through and made an informed decision, and it was clearly not a political bargaining move or a childish threat. Although Minister Hogan has made it known that she would welcome him back, the time to act was before he resigned. I am afraid that her dithering has cost us all dearly. The Eskom Board needed Bobby Godsell more than Bobby Godsell needed a position on the board.I wouldn't put it as graphically as Apocalypse in his first post but many will be deeply concerned about who now takes leadership of Eskom.
P.S. Ms Hogan urgently needs to round up the chickens that Mr Zapiro has depicted in his cartoon, or step aside for someone who can.

I do not see why Barbara want Godsell back - to me it does not matter wherether JZ intervened or not but I think and believe that Godsell must stay out. There are too many competent people who can chair this organisation. Barbara wants’ Godsell back because she is looking at selling a stake of Eskom - that has been her plan since she took over and that is what she has alluded to from the beginning. No stake of Eskom should be sold no matter what otherwise we are going to be held at ransom like we are by all major organization in this country. All big organization are doing as they please and if they can't their way they claim that they will have to retrench employees to cut over heads. We cannot allow to be held at ransom on a critical organization like Eskom. Eskom is like the defence force we cannot privatise them.

Calibri (Body)

Well done Mr Godesell. You took the right decision and perhaps other business leaders can learn something from your principled stand.
Unfortunately, SA is the loser and for as long as the ANC majority is obsessed by race and racist organisations like the BMF have influence, this sorry state will continue. The rot is plainly everywhere, and no one has the balls to stop it.

Godsell in not GOD there are people who capable of taking Eskom to the next level( white or black)let him go ,Maroga must follow .
Godsell can and will be replaced....ask Anglogoldashanti.

Good riddance - let him go - he is very disruptive - he wants to run Eskom like the mines - he can go with Gwede and Num - he is manipulative and arrogant - to him it's either his way or the highway - as chair of the board he could have assisted with direction and leadership in the board but because he was made so important he shook everybody around his to destabilize the whole organization and bring panic to the whole country. Let him go!!!

If he doesn't want to cameback, please get someone else and there are lots of qualified individuals in SA who can chair the Eskom board.

@Klasie Koek - it's good that he has left - actually for all those wiping tears of your faces because of his departure - what is it of significance has he done at Eskom - all that i know he has done are - blackout - mad tarrif increases - one sorry one was to give Maroga a big increase when he new that he wanted him out - isn't that pathetic - isn't it correct for him to go - he failed on all aspects up to a point of solidicising a big increase for somebody be knew was a non performer - that's manipulating the organisation systems

The point isn't about Godsell, it's about the government getting it wrong.

Maybe they will get it right now . . . . but don't hold your breath. Political imperatives never align with business that's just the way of things.

No one with a brain cell can work under the conditions that had been displayed recently.




One would think that this shall be a good lesson to the ANC to stop interfering,but well,it's the ANC we are talking about here.They are collectively devoid of the same cell as mentioned.

Hallo darkness, my old fiend .....

ANC: Another Night (with) Candles.

Good move Bobby - let them suffer, they do not want to listen.

It is becoming increasingly difficult to find constructive contributions on these forums and it's regrettable. Opinions generally represent the very extremes of all spectra, social, political and sadly & mostly prominently racial... here's what I think...
1. This position does not only require an engineer, but also a well experienced economic strategist of the highest calibre and my personal feeling is we had such in Mr. Bobby Godsell and finding a replacement will certainly be an arduous task as this if not handled appropriately can essentially bring an economy down on it's knees...
2. The government messed up by not backing him over the Maroga saga.
but
3. If they can swallow thier pride and the political muck that cocoons it and request that he returns with guarantees of non intereference e.t.c, for the good of this country i would sincerely hope that he would consider and return...
Finally, it saddens me to learn that there are South Africans who continue to allow historic prejudices and some current governmental anomalies to cloud objective and progressive thinking, for instance, there is one who says the ANC is always right yet we plainly see a lot of mis-management and corrupt tendancies flourishing {almost totally unchallenged} which is obviously destructive, then the other wants things to get messed really bad so their view-point on current political and socio-economic ills is vindicated and that also means destruction of RSA. I think wise people should be able to lay aside political and other differences for the common good.. though i'm now seriously wondering if there is such a thing as "the Common Good". God have mercy on RSA.

it seems some of you guys support Godsell's decision bcoz of his colour skin,

@jlg,Godsell has been the member of the ANC, since early 80s, so if you think Zuma kept quite bcoz he owes favour to Maroga you got it all wrong, Zuma appointed Hogan to deal with matters like Eskom, if jumps evrytime there is a problem then it means he does not trust Hogan to do her job correctly, got it? or your blond?

as for you opposing people , if Godsell was black you would have called it political interference, now coz he is white you says is lack of political support from the govt,where do you stand? and please this time make you know i what you need , no wonder the majority of the votes dont take you serious.

@Ted sigonyela - remember that Godsell was a political appointee with the backing of Gwede and Num - do you know BMP (Business - Market - Politics ) all these influence each other you cannot have one without the influence of the other. Godsell is perhaps one of those orphams exported from the west to Africa - Maroga is a smile to the madam type that is why he got himself in this situation.They both were misfits for the positions they held - they had no vision for the organisation that is why they ended up triping each other

Simon Mathope - the big raise was due to Maroga's appointment to the CEO position - awarded in 2007 and spread over 2 years, so its not the case of giving him a big increase and wanting him out..no manipulation, its what was in the contract.

I posted a second comment some time ago but nothing has appeared -maybe due to power cuts............?

"up to Mr Godsell if he wants to return to the Eskom board". But ofcourse, he is a coward. Goodbye.

Simon M. - do you even belive the rubbish that you are writing??

Nobody with half a brain cell would go back to Eskom after the Zuma interference. Godsell has seen the writing on the wall.

Eskom cannot answer simple questions from the board in 12 months, takes more than 3 months to distribute a management report which is then over 300 pages thick and so disjointed - it takes a month to read and is impossible to understand because each division (empire) reports differently.

Eskom has become unmanageable - for anyone- the only answer is a full turnaround team with a mandate to clean the rot and reduce the passengers by 50%.

The only way we will get this is by a Commission of enquiry why the Eskom plan escalated from R87bn to R400bn ( and actually to over R750bn) - report due in about 4 months.

Also, since the direct cost of electricity is less than 6cents/kwh, what happens to the balance of our charges?

Eskom also needs to explain why 4 past executives who have officially left Eskom, are still on it's payroll/premises after more than 2 years including former CEO Gcabashe who has a whole office suit and team of foreign consultants to pamper his pockets. Maybe he wants to make a comeback?

Your only remedy - bring out your official vote now -sign the petition.

http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/stop-eskom-extortion-now.html

Remember when Derek Keys' term as finance minister came to an end and Trevor Manuel took over? Many people thought that Trevor would never be up to the task. History has proven them wrong now, hasn't it?

Godsell has expressed confidence in the new interim leadership and I certainly dont think that he is misleading us by saying that Eskom will find the necessary skills needed to lead the organization.

I am as optimistic as Mr Godsell and I would advise the skeptics to drop their gloomy outlook on the future and rather go green like the rest of the environmentally conscious people.

Hey Victor, howdy bud. I am not sure if you are correct about Bobby boy being a coward. How would you like to run that mess.
Hey, Free Speech. Clearly you are a bit more into what is happenning there. I agree with you on most of everything you said and would like to offer an answer for your question, which was, "since the direct cost of electricity is less than 6cents/kwh, what happens to the balance of our charges"? It goes to the masses that aren't and have not paid for lights and water ever. (OK maybe not for ever, but almost)

Klasie Koek on November 16, 2009, 12:53 pm Sorry I offended you dude. But it is my way of venting a little frustration at the way we are being treated. We, as in the masses. The ANC are just bending us all over and asking us to just smile and move on. I find it very liberating to be able to tell them exactly what I feel.

Insist the government picks up the tab for their own mismanagement! Boycott Eskom and withhold all payments for a period of six months. Come on Cosatu where are you?