IS THERE a saviour for Jacob Maroga who - depending on who you want to believe - either resigned verbally some few weeks ago, or was pushed out by those intent on running Eskom themselves?
I mean, when you are the CEO and either your board, or a significant part of it, wants you out, to a point where they say so publicly, what would going to court serve?
It cannot be to get the job back and run Eskom again. That option is out, it seems.
If the new el supremo, Mpho Makwana, is to be believed, the hunt for the replacement is on. So Maroga can fight as much as he wants, the job is gone.
And Maroga should know it. Which then raises the question why? Maybe he was not given any severance package at all, or he wants an improvement on the package.
Or maybe the support given by the anointed one Julius Malema, the boy from Seshego who is seen by President Jacob Zuma as the one fit to lead, has led Maroga to believe nothing is impossible when you have Seshego on your side.
Whatever the real reason, it can only mean Maroga is unprepared for the eventuality that is here and now, that he has been fired.
To add insult to injury, talks are being planned with Bobby Godsell, the former chairperson of Eskom, for him to return.
Should that happen, it would mean Maroga is the only loser, and would shift the gaze to the powerful unions such as the National Union of Mineworkers (Num), which said the solution was for both to go.
Having waxed lyrical about his virtues, would Godsell's return force them into a campaign to get him out?
Empire in turmoil
All of which point to a malaise within government, and particularly the department of public enterprises.
Minister Barbara Hogan is presiding over an empire in turmoil.
Eskom has no CEO - Transnet and SAA are in the same position. Armscor, which does not fall under her, is also embroiled in a public spat where the board, through its chairperson Popo Molefe, has asked the CEO Sipho Thomo to give way, following the hike in the price of a number Airbus carriers for the defence force.
And each one of these vacancies is experiencing problems of a political nature in trying to find new leaders.
These public spats, manifesting through either support or antagonism towards either an incumbent or a prospective replacement, sap the energy of the many good people who agree to sit on the boards in the spirit of public service.
I would not be surprised if Fred Phaswana, who has now been appointed chairperson of Standard Bank, will include Transnet in the list of boards he is vacating following the saga around Siyabonga Gama, when the board was called names.
Godsell was accused of trying to usurp the powers of the CEO.
The Black Management Forum (BMF) and the ANC Youth League saw the removal of Maroga as a white backlash against black leadership.
One of those who has been vociferous in decrying how a non-executive chairperson of a board would blur the line by getting involved in management issues is Sello Rasethaba, the other colourful man from the now famous township of Seshego outside Polokwane.
Rasethaba, a former CEO of Matodzi Resources (now White Water Resources), was appointed chairperson of the board of the Road Agency Limpopo (RAL) just about two months ago.
Last Monday, he addressed a staff meeting of RAL to announce that the CEO was leaving. Fired would have been more appropriate, for Bohane Shivambu did not volunteer to go. He was, like Maroga and Thomo, told by the board to go.
The point is Rasethaba was telling a CEO to go, and yet when Godsell does it, race-nuanced allegations are brought up to justify why Maroga should not go.
It is important sometimes to maintain some consistency. Some people would say it should not be sometimes, but all the time.
And so one has to ask, why can Rasethaba's board fire their CEO and Godsell's board can't?
Many of us marvel at the shenanigans and the alliances for and against Maroga and Godsell. We wonder whether anyone at Eskom still worries about the real business of that utility: generating and distributing power to the public of this country and its neighbours.
- Fin24.com