Testing times for Matona

THE new CEO of struggling power utility Eskom, Tshediso Matona, has his work out cut out for him.

He first has to appoint a chief operational officer and a chief financial officer, executive positions central to turning around a huge ship like Eskom, steer it to profitability and allow it to keep the lights on.

This means it is still a long way before the company is fully turned around because it will take at least four or more months to search and find good COO and CFO.

Matona, the current director general at the department of public enterprises (DPE), was appointed Eskom CEO on Wednesday this week.

Read: Eskom announces new boss

The appointment signals a renewed bid for credibility and profitability by the main shareholder of the embattled Eskom, the government.

Cabinet accepted Matona's selection as CEO after an official gathering held in Cape Town on Wednesday morning.

Matona has been caught up in providing oversight to Eskom and the other state-owned entities in the DPE’s portfolio for the past 36 months.

In the past couple of months, Matona has been involved in the inter-departmental task team which included departments of energy, treasury and public enterprises.

These departments have been working closely with Eskom and the national power regulator to bring answers to the challenges confronting the electricity supplier.

This means Matona is up to date with the challenges Eskom has to deal with.

Matona replaces Brian Dames, who stepped down on March 31 this year, while Collin Majila has been acting CEO at Eskom since April 1 this year.

Matona was formerly a trade representative in Geneva, Switzerland at the World Trade Organisation.

And, for half a decade, Matona has been the director general in the department of trade and industry.
He has a master's degree in development economics from the University of East Anglia (UK, 1994) and an honours degree in economics and political science from the University of Cape Town (1992).

It is my contention that Matona’s arrival at Eskom may not immediately close a tumultuous period for the power utility, which has been struggling to keep the lights on for the past seven to eight years.

In addition to this, in the absence of a full-time CFO, COO and CEO after the departure of Dames in March this year, Eskom has been a ghost ship for a long time.

The early response to Matona’s appointment has so far paid more attention on how he would quickly acclimatise to a corporate situation in South Africa. He has been a technocrat all his professional life.

Read: Black Business Council hails new Eskom boss

Matona’s challenge will be to leverage Eskom’s prestige and huge earnings growth potential into a long-term business plan.

As someone who has dealt with Matona on many occasion, I can safely say his greatest asset is an affable, collaborative style that will stand him in good stead at a firm known to harbour professionals with big egos.

And his personality and deep policy-making background could also help retain the highly skilled people who sometimes resign after a big management change in companies.

However, a key question is whether Matona is ready for a task of this magnitude, one that could require tough organisational decisions that won't be popular with some insiders.

 - Fin24

*Mzwandile Jacks is an independent journalist. Opinions expressed are his own.